Sensual
by Wedjatqi
Summary: Teyla discovers what its like to have a vacation on Earth, and it results in some new changes to her life. JT. Inspired by S5 episode First Contacts.
1. Chapter 1

**Part**: 1/5

**Rating**: **M**

**Disclaimers**: I own no part of the Stargate world, I make no money from this and I wish that I could make money from having such fun.

**Spoilers:** Post S5, Atlantis on Earth

**Note: **This fic was initially inspired by the S5 episode First Contacts. In that episode, Rodney is working with Daniel away from the rest of the team and that got me thinking… Vacation fun with John and Teyla, with very little in the way of clever plot, that somehow turned into a 30,000 word fic! Since it's all complete (after far too many rewrites!) I'll be posting the first chapter tonight and the others over the next 2 days to get them all up quick.

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The hotel door clicked shut behind her and she attached the key card to her skirt's belt as she headed down the corridor. Her sandals echoed on the smooth hallway floor as she headed down its length, nodding in greeting as she passed those she knew or had met for the first time last night.

She passed under several archways until she reached the first of several lobbies, the high ceiling and tiled walls creating an oasis of cool from the heat of the day, which now it was early evening had greatly reduced, but not entirely. She had spent the morning out by one of the large sparkling bright pools of the holiday resort, lying under the sun along with others from the city. She and Jennifer had then enjoyed a light lunch under wide umbrellas, talking of everything but the city and their work.

This 'long weekend' break, organised by Home World Defence, had been greatly timed for her, for the rest and relaxation was recharging her deeply. As much as she loved her duties in the city and caring for her son, it was wonderful of have a short break like this, with no duties to attend to other than to eat and sleep.

Half of the resort complex had been taken over by Home World Defence and was filled with personnel from their own offices, from the SGC and from Atlantis. As Jennifer had commented – there were some definitely some 'perks' to the city remaining on Earth for a while longer. This had been the longest and furthest afield that Teyla had been on Earth outside of Atlantis, and she had to say that so far it had far exceeded her expectations.

She looked up at the turning ceiling fans above her, circulating the lobby's cooled air that was pumped out from the wall vents throughout the complex. The day had been hot, but she had missed most of the afternoon's heat, for after lunch she had retired to her own quiet hotel room to rest. She had woken only an hour ago, having slept right through for four hours! She had been left feeling a little groggy, but the uninterrupted sleep had been wonderful. She felt rested and happy, though she still missed Torren's presence, but she had spoken with him over a computer connection just prior to leaving her room. He had recognised her over the video image and had made his little noises that were so close to being his first words, his little face bright and happy. Kanaan was taking good care of him, as he always did, and he had been willing enough for her to take time away. Though they had ended their relationship over a month ago, they had remained on good terms, and he seemed not to resent the decision. It had been a little more difficult for her of late though, caring for Torren by herself in the evenings following a long day on duty. Torren was a good boy, but she had needed this break to recollect herself, and she looked forward to returning to her son and the city at the end of the weekend.

To one side of the lobby stood a board on which there were three long lists of names. She waited as others ran their fingers down the lists and turned away. She exchanged smiles with them, and stepped forward to inspect the lists herself.

Dr Murphy, Atlantis' psychologist, and her colleague from the SGC had been organising the evening events, which had begun last night with an inter-departmental 'mingle'. Teyla had thoroughly enjoyed meeting those from the SGC and HWD, and being the only Athosian, or individual from Pegasus, that many of them had met, she had found herself rarely without someone approaching her for conversation. John had rescued her a few times from conversations that had gone on too long and she had sent out a 'call for assistance' expression across the room. He always seemed to notice when she needed some 'assistance' and would arrive a minute or so later with some perfectly polite excuse to 'steal her away' for a moment.

They had also 'rescued' Jennifer at one point, since a rather too interested colleague from the SGC had seemed intent to keep her attention all evening. Since Rodney and Ronon had elected to remain in Atlantis, Rodney to watch over the additional science teams and Ronon to spend time with Amelia no doubt, the remaining three of them had watched out for each other last night. There were many others from the city here though, and Teyla had talked with them as well, taking the opportunity to speak with them outside of work and Atlantis. It had been a very enjoyable evening. However, she had no idea what tonight's planned events involved.

She found her name on the third list, which meant that she was to head to Dinning Room A. She stood back from the lists and headed down the correct hallway to where she believed the right dinning room was located. She was a little early for the start of the meal, but she preferred to seek out where she had to be with plenty of time.

The dinning room's doors stood open, with another copy of the list on a board outside. As she reached the doorway, she paused, looking into the room to see if she was too early. People had already begun to arrive, but, as she glanced around the room, she felt her stomach drop a little. The tables were all small and each set for only two people. There was also a vase of flowers and a glowing candle set at the centre of each table. Teyla turned her suspicious gaze to where she now saw Dr Murphy stood to one side, with a large clipboard in her arm. Teyla concluded that Dr Murphy was playing matchmaker for this evening.

Teyla frowned at the thought as she ran her eyes over the group already gathered. Dr Murphy was introducing Dr Kingman from the city to a shorter red-haired woman, who smiled at him as they shook hands. Dr Murphy gestured off towards the small tables. Teyla respected Dr Murphy, having had several sessions with her during and following her breakup from Kanaan, however Teyla had never taken stock in matchmakers and she did not like the forced nature of the meetings. She also had to wonder whom Dr Murphy thought to pair her up with, suspecting it would be a man from the SGC or HWD, since the theme of this weekend seemed to be to meet others across the forces. Teyla had been looking forward to a relaxed meal, not having to be polite with someone she did not know, the air filled with the possible potential from him as to whether she would like to see him again.

"Murphy isn't pulling her punches, is she?" John asked from her left.

Teyla looked round surprised as he stopped by her side, peering into the room along with her.

She had not seen him since breakfast this morning, since he had been enjoying a day out on the resort's golf course. He was dressed smartly now for dinner though, in a lovely bright white shirt with an open collar.

"Are you on this list as well?" Teyla asked amused.

He pulled a face as he pulled back slightly when Murphy glanced around the room. Teyla laughed lightly at him.

"And you are here?" She asked surprised that he had actually turned up at the dining room.

"She blackmailed me into it," he replied with a resentful tone, but it seemed that he was as equally as relaxed as she felt. His green eyes were sparkling with amusement as well as a shared feeling of discomfort to be included in a matchmaking evening.

"Blackmailed you?" Teyla asked doubtfully.

He glanced back into the room. "Apparently I'm supposed to set 'a good example', as a military leader I should 'appreciate that my people need time to be social and relax'," he replied, in a surprisingly close imitation of Dr Murphy's accent, making Teyla smile.

Several others arrived at the dining room's entrance and moved past with polite smiles of recognition. Teyla remained with John just outside the doorway though, deeply reluctant to enter. One of the men who passed smiled at her widely, and she remembered him from last night. He was an expert from the SGC in charge of studying some sort of alien material that had recently been found in this galaxy, she had not really stored much more than that for he had talked in a very technical language which she had not understood. She watched as he and the other three entered the dinning room and headed over to the growing group with Dr Murphy, though a few couples had already begun to sit down at the romantically set tables.

"I've never been a good example to anyone," John muttered, clearly reconsidering whether to stay.

"That is not true," Teyla told him.

He looked at her with a half smile. "You're supposed to help me make excuses to get out of this," he gestured to the room ahead of them that had far too many small tables for Teyla's liking. More people passed them to enter the room, nodding and smiling as they did.

"If I have to do this, then so do you," Teyla told him plainly, not even trying to control her smile.

Yet more people passed them, talking brightly and animatedly. John pressed closer to her to allow them to pass and together they pulled back further into the hallway as Murphy moved forward to greet the newcomers. Teyla smiled at the silliness of the situation.

Murphy distracted, they both peered back into the room.

"You know there could be a way around this," John said thoughtfully and she glanced at him hopefully. "We could team up against her," he suggested meeting her gaze.

She smiled at that and glanced back in towards their new 'nemesis'. "Pair up for the evening?" She asked looking back to John.

"That way we get to actually enjoy dinner," he replied.

Teyla nodded at that, liking the idea. She would much prefer sitting with John at one of these little tables for dinner, and the prospect of the evening lifted. "I think she has already 'matched people'," Teyla pointed out, noticing that Dr Murphy was consulting her clipboard again as she moved to introduce people.

"Her point," John replied quietly as more people passed them. "Is to pair people up, so we slip straight to a table at the back, what can she do?"

Teyla nodded, glancing to the far right of the dining room. More couples were now sitting down, filling the room further.

"That far table in the corner, she would not notice us for a while," she suggested.

John nodded beside her, the two of them looking back towards Dr Murphy. They paused as the good doctor turned to introduce a new pair.

"Go, go," John uttered, but she was already moving forward with him.

They headed straight into the sea of tables, weaving around others and chairs, until they reached the target table. They dropped down quickly into their seats, both of them smiling. John immediately lifted his menu, opened it and held it high in front of his face. Teyla chuckled at him as she glanced over her shoulder to where Dr Murphy stood at the far end of the dining room.

"She is far too distracted," Teyla decided after a beat and turned back to John.

He lowered the menu somewhat, revealing more of his amused expression as he tilted his head to look over Teyla's shoulder towards Dr Muphy. He frowned. "She's putting Kelso with Dr Legg."

Teyla glanced round as well to where the two very different people were smiling with forced politeness at one another. Kelso was the city's master at arms and Dr Legg was a botanist known for her strong opinions. Teyla knew her quite well from Ladies Poker nights.

"An interesting choice," Teyla considered and then ducked back away as Dr Murphy looked round.

"Wonder who she chose for you," John considered with a teasing look as he looked over her shoulder again. "That doctor guy in charge of rocks is still waiting for someone," he noted.

"He is a _geologist_," Teyla pointed out, knowing full well that he knew the title.

"Same thing," John replied smiling at her and then glanced down, ducking slightly lower in his chair as presumably Dr Murphy had looked in their direction.

Teyla chuckled again as she focused on her menu. "How was your golf today?" She asked as she pondered whether to have the crispy chicken or the stuffed peppers.

"Great," John replied with feeling. "You really should try it," he added, once again trying to tempt her into the sport.

She decided on the peppers and turned the menu to choose a dessert to go with it as she glanced up at him. "Perhaps another time," she replied, as she always did, and he smiled knowingly in reply.

"Colonel Sheppard. Teyla," Dr Murphy arrived abruptly by their table and they both looked up at her surprised at her sudden appearance.

"Hi, Doc," John greeted her, just able to hide his concern.

"Dr Murphy," Teyla greeted the doctor as well.

"I'm glad you both made it," the woman replied and Teyla sensed the 'but' about to follow.

"Indeed, it is such a lovely chance for John and I to share a meal alone together," she told the doctor quickly. Dr Murphy's expression shifted as she read into the comment what Teyla had intended, and across the table Teyla swore she could feel John's relief and amusement. Murphy's eyes shifted to John and his expression became serious.

"Not that we don't love having the rest of the team, or little Torren around," he improvised.

"But, it will be nice to share a quiet meal," Teyla finished for him.

Dr Murphy's eyes narrowed with suspicion, glancing from Teyla to John and back. Teyla was pretty sure that the doctor could see through their scheme, but at the same time she could not disagree with it, and she finally gave them a smile. Feeling the success on the horizon, Teyla smiled up at her in reply.

"Very well," the doctor replied. "I hope that you both enjoy your meal, and after the food there will be a guided tour through the gardens to the beach and back."

"That sounds lovely," Teyla replied.

"Great," John added with slightly forced interest.

Dr Murphy glanced between them again, before shaking her head slightly and moved away. Teyla watched her leave, heading over to talk to another couple, this time with a far wider smile. Teyla turned back to John with a victorious smile of her own and he grinned as he sat back with exaggerated relief, at which point the waiter arrived to take their meal orders. They ordered their food and John requested a light alcoholic drink for them to share.

"Did you win your golf?" She asked as she settled more comfortably in her seat.

John poured some water into one of her two clean glasses and then his own.

"Only just," he told her as he set down the jug. "Martins is a sore loser. What did you get up to today?" He asked as he rearranged the water jug, vase of flowers, and candle to one side, clearing the space between them across the table.

"I spent the morning by the pool," she told him as she reached out to touch the soft petals of the flowers in the vase. A soft delicate scent lingered over the table, which was not only the enjoyable scent John was wearing this evening, but was also from the flowers and possibly also from the soft coloured candle. She leant forward and inhaled the scent of the flowers.

"Sunbathing?" He asked after a beat.

She looked back to him as she sat back in her seat. "Enjoying the sun, the water, and a book."

"Enjoying yourself then," he concluded with a smile, his forearms leant on the table. He had folded back the sleeves of his shirt to reveal his forearms, as he always did, and she thought his skin looked darker today from his day on the golf course.

"I did," she replied honestly. "And then this afternoon," she continued amused at herself. "I went to take a short nap in my room and woke up four hours later."

He chuckled at that.

"Then I spoke to Torren briefly before coming down here," she added.

"How's he doing?" John asked as the waiter reappeared and set a new jug down on the table between them. Pieces of fruit and a large helping of ice covered the surface of the drink inside the jug. She pushed her other glass forward as John lifted the jug and poured.

"He is very well. I felt guilty at not having brought him with me," she admitted as John filled his glass. The jug was set down on the other side of the table from the vase and candle, leaving the centre between them unobstructed once more.

"You need your time away," John replied, repeating a conversation she had had with him and her other friends several times since the holiday had first been offered. "And you clearly needed the rest."

Their first course was set down in front of them as Teyla sipped at the fruity alcoholic drink. She had ordered a melon selection for her starter, which was beautifully arranged over the plate in long slices and a bright sweet sauce drizzled over the arrangement.

The rest of the meal arrived in good time, throughout which Teyla happily enjoyed John's company. The rest of the full dining room around them was forgotten as they recounted some Rodney stories and laughed together. She asked him more about this region of Earth, which led to several stories from his past that she listened to with rapt attention, asking questions as they occurred to her. The final course was served, both of them having ordered dark chocolate pots containing a pleasurably warming spice. As she scrapped the last of the dessert out from the small ceramic pot, she told him about the sweet offerings her mother used to make for her when she was young.

"It is a great shame that the sweet bean was lost with the scorching of Old Athos," she concluded as she set aside the entirely empty pot, wishing away the sudden sense of sadness to think of her lost world and parents.

She pulled towards her the cup of dark coffee and lifted the small cup from its saucer to her lips, glancing at John as she did. His eyes were on her, and she sensed that he too felt similar feelings. She wished she had not brought up the subject, for she knew that the fate of her world was something that weighed heavily on John, since he had played a large role in what had happened. She sipped the bittersweet drink, set the cup down and smiled at him.

"Tell me, did your mother cook you treats as well?" She asked.

He smiled slightly in reply. "Kind of, but the best was when Dave and I used to melt down caramel chocolate bars and pour the goo over a bowl of ice cream."

She narrowed her eyes with delight, imagining the combination. "That sounds good."

John nodded. "Real bad for your teeth though," he added as he leant a little further forward.

The light level had dropped outside, making the interior of the dining room darker and the brightness of the candles stronger. In that light, John looked more handsome than she had ever seen him before, his eyes dark and the strong lines of his face in sharp contrast between candlelight and shadow. She smiled at her friend - handsome, kind, and such good company. She narrowed her eyes at him with a thought.

"Torren has seemed a little too interested in Earth candy bars of late. I had put that down to Rodney's influence, but now…" She gave him an amused suspicious look.

"Wasn't me," he replied immediately holding up his hands. She kept her eyes on him, sensing there was something else that he was withholding. He glanced away and back. "Though I _may_ have slipped him a few cookies."

"May? Are you not sure?" She teased him.

"Only one or two," he excused himself.

She smiled back. "Times or the number of cookies each time?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but Dr Murphy called for everyone's attention from across the dining room. Teyla leant further forward across the table towards John as the room quietened, keeping her voice very low. "I expect next time, that I should be offered a cookie as well."

John grinned at her as Dr Murphy called for quiet again, and the room finally fell into complete silence, all eyes on the doctor.

"I hope that you have all enjoyed the meal and each others' company. If you are all finished, we will now have a guided tour through the gardens lead by Mr Columbo." There was some light laughter around the room.

A tall dark-haired man stepped forward and waved his hand to everyone. "That's _Mr_ not _Lieutenant_ Columbo," he said with a smile and there was more laughter.

Teyla glanced round at John with a questioning frown. "I'll explain later," he told her.

Accepting that, she looked back to Mr Columbo.

"The tour should take at least three quarters of an hour. If anyone gets lost then simply follow the paths back towards the hotel, all the paths lead back here eventually. It's still quite warm outside, so if you'd all like to follow me."

The room was filled with the sound of scrapping of chairs on the floor and conversation as everyone rose from their seats. Teyla wiped her hands and mouth on the napkin one final time as she too rose, John standing opposite her, as everyone began filing from the room. John seemed to be likeminded in keeping to the back of the group, so as they edged from their table she looked up at him.

"Columbo?" She prompted.

John smiled at that. "It's from an old tv series. Lieutenant Columbo was the main character, a police detective who investigated murders." They moved through the room, John pausing to let her through gaps between tables first, so his words paused as they parted and resumed as he returned to her side. "Each episode he would find the killer and prove he was guilty."

"As I understand it, that is a very common theme of television programmes, and books," she added as they filed out of the dining room at the back of the group, turning through the lobby, heading out into the night air. It was indeed still nicely warm, and there was easily enough moonlight to see everything.

"The difference about Columbo was that the episode started out with the murder, so we know who did it from the start," John added.

The group headed down one long path heading straight away from the hotel, people walking mostly in their pairs. Teyla walked with John right at the back of the line.

"So, the enjoyment is in watching Lieutenant Columbo discover the murderer himself?"

"Sure, and the fact that he's a unique kind of character. Think of someone with say Colonel Carter's understanding of people, but who pretends he's as bumbling as Rodney," John explained from her side.

Teyla laughed at the thought. "And this is enjoyable to watch?"

"It's great. There'll probably be one on the tv over the next few days, we'll watch one. You'll see," he told her.

The path was turning through tall palm trees, vegetation growing on either side of the path, all perfectly cultivated and cropped in the high set flowerbeds. As the path turned into the thick of the beds, the noise from the hotel reduced, the night suddenly far quieter around them. She glanced back down the softly lit path to the bright lights of the hotel only just visible through breaks in the trees and shrubs. A new sense of relaxation seemed to fill her and she found herself walking slightly slower, breathing in the warm soft air as she turned back to the retreating backs of the rest of the group. John kept by her side and she remembered that by dallying that he too was held back. She looked up at him to see him smile down at her, seeming as relaxed as her was.

"You were right, this has been a far more enjoyable evening than I had feared upon seeing Dr Murphy's plans," she told him.

He chuckled in the growing darkness of the gardens. In the far distance, at the head of the group, Mr Columbo's voice could faintly be heard, but she did not care to listen, she preferred to enjoy the night air and John's continuing company.

"Though, I assume that there was not someone that you actually wished to sit with tonight?" She asked realising that perhaps John had actually wanted to find someone new to sit with despite his discomfort at the entrance to the dining room earlier. She did not like the idea of him having felt sorry for her and missing the opportunity for himself. She had not seen or heard of him dating anyone in the city, though she had tried very hard not to care if he had.

"I hate to think who Murphy would pair me up with," he muttered.

"Perhaps with someone like Dr Legg?" Teyla suggested with a smile, bumping her arm against his slightly.

He let out a huffed breath at that. "You mean someone from your Ladies Poker Night?"

She glanced up at his teasing tone. "And what do you know of our poker nights?"

"Only, that you all have something of a reputation in the city," he replied, equally as playful.

The path was darker now, lit only by tiny up lights set at increments along the sides of the path.

"Which is?" She asked, as he would expect.

"That you're a group of very free-minded, opinionated ladies," he replied with a grin down at her.

She smiled at his assessment. Ahead people were pausing, presumably to enjoy whatever it was that Mr Columbo was telling them about the gardens around them. Along the path around her, there were indeed lush beautiful plants with occasional bright large flowers in the flowerbeds.

"You do not like free-minded, opinionated ladies?" She asked, amused that they were actually discussing this subject, for John was very private about most things and his love life in particular. She could understand that, being that way inclined herself, but that they were discussing it in such relaxed manner warmed her, and she felt pleased with herself for being able to discuss it with him. Though she had always wondered what it would be like to have been closer to John, he saw her as a friend and his open nature this evening felt like a gift among a weekend of relaxation and peace.

"They're the best kind of ladies," he replied quickly and she grinned up at him. She did not doubt that men would likely prefer women far easier to tame or engage with than those who could beat them in a sparring match of any kind, such as with words, training, or across a poker table.

"You win much on your poker nights?" He asked.

"I do well enough," she replied carefully.

"Which means you clean up," he concluded.

"No," she corrected him, but smiled as she did, walking close to his side between the new press of trees on both sides of the path. His arm brushed constantly against hers as they walked; a teasing light brush one moment and then more pressure the next, as they moved around the tight twists and turns of the path. "The group is challenging, which I enjoy."

Mr Columbo's voice sounded even further away now, though ahead through some turns, Teyla could still see some of the group ahead. As conversation paused she realised she could hear the first sounds of the ocean in the air.

"I can hear the ocean," she uttered. "I miss the sound when I am away from Atlantis," she reflected quietly.

"I know what you mean," John replied. The tight turns of the paths evened out and ahead there was another long straight path, down which she could finally smell the saltwater in the air. "Nothing beats a beach though," John added.

"I rarely saw the ocean as a child, for we kept our camps well inland."

"I loved visiting the ocean as a kid," John added. "Surfing was always a way to escape away from my Dad."

She glanced up at him. "It seems that the ocean provokes a sense of escape for most people."

"I guess," he replied his attention focused forward as they walked. "You can see that distant horizon," he drew a line through the air with his hand before him. "You know that you could just head out straight for it and you'd end up somewhere else, somewhere far away."

"Is that what you wanted as a child?" She asked carefully, not knowing whether he would wish to share any more than he already had.

He smiled though in reply and looked up to the night air above them. "No, I wanted to fly." He gestured ahead of him again, but now in a straight line up towards the horizon in the sky. He looked down at her. "What did you want as a kid?"

She inhaled as she considered that, the strong varied combination of flower scents and seawater was somewhere between pleasant and too intensely mixed to be comfortable.

"When I was very young I wished to travel through the Stargates as much as possible, but older, I wanted to protect my people in any way that I could."

"You've done that," John replied quietly.

She frowned at that. "Not as well as I had hoped," she admitted honestly.

"I think you've done pretty well, considering everything that's been thrown at your people," he replied.

Ahead two shadows broke away from the group and she watched them head away down a side path that led away from the rest of the group.

"It appears that Mr Columbo's tour is not to everyone's liking," she said with a smile.

"Murphy may have gotten at least one match right," John added with a low amused voice as they passed the side path, both glancing down it, but only empty moonlight could be seen.

Teyla smiled to herself, considering now that these gardens, full of turns and secrets paths and seats set between the trees would be a preferred place for couples to sit alone together. She wondered if this had also been part of Dr Murphy's plan, if so then the woman was rather more devious that Teyla had thought.

She wondered who the doctor would have paired her with, running through those she had noted on the list, but she could not place all the names on the list or faces she had seen in the dining room. Perhaps, she had missed an opportunity by the doctor's assessment, but she personally saw the evening as far from a loss. She looked up at John beside her.

"Thank you for your company this evening," she told him. "I have truly enjoyed spending time alone with you," she quoted their excuse story that they had used with Dr Murphy. He looked down at her with an equally amused expression.

"What with Ronon and Rodney out the way," he added amused.

"Do you think she will say something to you tomorrow?"

The path rose slightly ahead of them and she noticed that the rest of the group had disappeared from view ahead.

"Doubt it," John replied. "I'll be on the golf course anyway, so just let me know what _you_ tell her." She glared up at his smile.

The vegetation abruptly stopped around them and the path ended at the rise leaving them stood on the edge of another path that ran along the top of a reinforced bank that overlooked the wide sandy beach below. She sighed with pleasure, the sounds of the ocean now loud without the barrier of the bank, and the air was cooler and fresher. She had seen the beach yesterday morning when they had first arrived at the resort, but had not returned since. Now, she took in the beauty of it, stretching out in both directions as far as she could see.

To the left, down the beach, the rest of the tour group were wandering along in one long line through the moonlight, Mr Columbo's voice completely covered by the ocean's surf.

"Looks like Murphy may have got another one right," John said as he nudged her arm with his. She looked past him to where he looked, to see a couple walking close, heading away from the main group across the sand. As they watched, the couple slipped from view into one of the observational huts inside of which there were seats, beach blankets and water available, if she remembered the introduction talk correctly.

"We may have to give her more credit after all," Teyla considered.

"Down to the beach?" John asked, gesturing to the feet worn path down the bank to the beach below.

"Definitely," she agreed and they moved down the path, the dried hardened soil becoming sand as they neared the bottom. It was a steep bank and John moved a little ahead of her, down the narrower space with the offer for her to fall on him. She smiled at the offer, and when the path was particularly steep, she reached out and steadied herself on his shoulder in front of her. At a faster pace they made it down the bottom of the short, but steep bank.

They paused on the sand, and she kept her grip on his arm as she stood on one foot and then the other to remove her sandals so that she could walk barefoot in the sand. He supported her weight, waiting for her. She tied the ankle cords of her sandals together and secured them to hang from her belt so she would not have to carry them.

"We got another pair," John said to her as she secured her sandals and she looked down the beach to see two more shadows heading away from the rest of the group now further down the beach. This last couple headed back up the bank to the gardens above.

"I wonder who they were," she wondered as she stepped up to John's side properly. He had removed his shoes as well she noticed, now carrying them in his hand, whilst his other hand was in his pocket, her hand around that arm again as she brushed some grass from the path from one of her feet. They set off down the beach and she decided to keep her hand around his elbow, keeping close to his side enjoying his support in case the sand grew deep.

"I wish Rodney or Ronon would have joined us on this trip," she remarked looking off to the ocean breaking a few metres away.

"Trust me, Ronon's happy back there," John pointed out with a suggestive tone.

She bumped against his side. "You know what I mean. They could both do with some relaxation."

"I think Ronon's probably pretty relaxed," he added with the same tone again.

She chuckled this time. "I am pleased for him and Amelia," she said.

"They seem really into each other," he replied.

She glanced down at their bare feet walking deep prints through the cool sand. "I am surprised that Rodney did not wish to join Jennifer here."

"I tried to talk him into coming with us," John told her. "But, he was all paranoid that the city scans were going to do something to the city without him there."

"Jennifer was disappointed, but then I suppose even she can not compete with Rodney's first love," she pondered.

"Himself?" John asked.

"No," she replied with a smile.

"Always being right?" John guessed again, his smile warming his voice.

She looked up at him beside her, the sea breeze ruffling through his hair and the moonlight reflected in his eyes. "You may be right there," she considered and he nodded sagely. "But I was referring to his love of Atlantis and his wish to protect the city."

John nodded looking forward, his handsome face in profile now as she watched him. "I can understand that," he considered.

She nodded, for it seemed that all of them had spent the last years doing just that – protecting Atlantis and those within her walls. "I would imagine that it was most difficult for the Ancients to leave the city so long ago. To be forced from their home, which they had built themselves and loved."

John nodded, but his gaze shifted to the wooden shelter they were passing. He leant closer as they passed by. "I think that's Kelso and Legg," he said quietly with surprise.

Teyla leant into him as she glanced back, using his body to hide her as she looked back into the darkness of the open sided shelter to see two forms settled together on a swinging seat inside. One profile was faintly familiar from a distance.

"I think you may be right," she whispered back with a smile. "I suppose they do say that opposites often attract."

"Yeah, but there's opposites and then there's those two," John remarked, glancing back to the shelter falling behind them.

Teyla smiled at that, settling her hand further around his elbow, the soft folded material of his shirtsleeve warm under her hand.

"I will find out for sure at the next Poker Night," she told him.

He glanced back round at her. "What exactly do you all talk about at these poker nights?" He asked suspiciously.

"Poker," she replied up at him with a smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "And...?"

"We often discuss the latest events in the city, our duties and family," she told him.

"Your family?" John asked.

"Yes, I have even taken Torren along once or twice, though he tends to limit how much we can play."

"Tries to help does he?" John asked with a smile.

"That and he tends to distract everyone, and receives far too many sweet treats."

"It was only a few cookies," he protested with a smile.

She set her other hand around his elbow as well, to let him know that she did not mind him sharing food with Torren, and she knew that he would not over feed her son.

"Carson has suggested to me that when Torren is older that I may wish to give him the ATA gene," she told John.

"You don't want to?"

"Perhaps it is as a mother I am disinclined to alter him in any way, but it may not work anyway, as it did not with me," she replied. The success rate of the gene therapy was not all that high and she had to wonder if Torren would be unlikely to be responsive to the gene therapy as she had been.

"Maybe it'll have more of a chance of working if he has it when he's a kid," John suggested.

"Carson suggested the same. I have to admit, that it would be very useful for him to be able to use Ancient technology, and he could even learn to fly a Jumper one day." She looked up at John. "Perhaps you could teach him."

She saw John's grin as he looked down at her. "That'd be cool," he replied.

She smiled at his enthusiasm. "I thought you may think that." She looked down the beach where she could see the distant main group were now heading back across the width of the beach, heading back up the bank again. "I would feel happier if he could use Ancient technology and perhaps he would be able to live in the city even if something were to happen to myself."

She saw John glance at her out of the corner of her eye. "He'll always have a home in Atlantis, Teyla. You know that," he told her, echoing a conversation they had had over a year ago.

"I know," she replied. "But, even if I do remain in the city for all my remaining, hopefully long, years I would hope that he could have a connection to the city that your people would value."

He shifted next to her, uncomfortable with the subject matter. "He'll always be welcome in the city." He said the words because he meant them, but she also heard the tone to his voice that told her that he too had considered the far future. If the day may one day arrive when all those she knew in the city were gone, eventually transferred away or lost, then she wished Torren to be linked with the Ancestral city in which he was growing up.

She looked away to the ocean to their right, watching the water reaching up the beach and then falling back and away again. It was beautiful down here, the air cool, the sand soft and the air fresh. She looked back to see the rest of the group were at the top of the bank and disappearing back into the gardens.

"Could we stop here for a while?" She suggested to John. "I would like to remain on the beach a little longer."

"Sure," he replied. "There's another shelter up there."

She nodded and they altered their direction towards the thatched sloped roof of the shelter. "That is if a couple have not already taken residence," she suggested with a smile.

"We'll kick them out," John suggested in turn.

They reached the shelter and found it empty, with a large soft chair inside and a cabinet beside it containing the supplies. They decided that they wished to remain on the sand and so retrieved two beach towels from the cabinet, and laid them out before the shelter. They settled down beside each other, sat looking out at the ocean.

"It is so beautiful here," she remarked, as she wrapped her arms around her raised knees. The moonlight shone down over the wide dark stretch of water that was constantly moving, the sound repetitive and relaxing.

"Sure is," he replied quietly.

"I think this would have been good for Rodney to visit somewhere like this," she considered.

John shifted beside her, lying down on his back, looking up at the perfectly clear sky overhead. "He would find something to whinge about."

She smiled at that, most likely true. Comfortable silence fell between them and she simply sat and watched the ocean and the beach.

After some time, there was movement down to the right along the beach, and she watched the darker shapes of Kelso and Legg leaving the other shelter, heading back up the bank out of view. She smiled at them, glad that they had found good company this evening.

She turned back to the ocean, closing her eyes and just listening to the sound, letting it soothe her. John's breathing to her left suggested that he was dozing or at least very relaxed.

She thought resting here sounded very good, so she settled herself back as well, lying down onto the slightly cool blanket under her. The sand under her back gave slightly, but not too much that it was not supportive to her body.

She closed her eyes again, enjoying the air washing over her, John's warmth to her left and the ocean's sounds close by.

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Onto Part 2 (to be posted tomorrow…)


	2. Chapter 2

**Part**: 2/5

**Rating**: **M**

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She surfaced from sleep occasionally, never quite falling into a deep sleep. Sharp calls woke her at one point, and she opened her eyes to see a bird circling high up overhead. She watched it's outstretched wings, shifting on the unseen air currents from the sea. Air currents that had become cool across the beach, brushing uncomfortably up over her, but as the sand felt warmer under the blanket, she did not feel inclined to leave her restful place just yet. She sleepily turned onto her left side, towards John's warmth beside her, and she reached down to pull the far edge of her blanket over her legs.

John shifted beside her, drawing her attention, and he lifted an arm over her head with a silent invitation to keep her warm. She shuffled forward to lie almost against his side, his arm around her back. He pulled up the edge of the blanket up over her back to cover her further, trapping the material between his warm arm and her back. She rested her temple against his upper arm, the warmth of his close body banishing away most of the chill. She closed her eyes again, the bird's call soft in the air.

She rose from sleep again to feel her warm pillow shifting, and she opened her eyes to see John turning towards her to lie on his side. His arm was her pillow still, and she watched through sleepy eyes as he tugged the edge of his blanket over himself too keep out the cool air. She closed her eyes again, feeling more comfortable now with their bodies turned towards one another creating a warmer space between them. One of her knees was resting between his she noted absently, and she shifted her foot forward, settling it too within the warmth of his legs, her bare foot meeting his. He sighed slightly as he settled properly, his warm breath brushing over her cheek and she sighed as well, slipping back into sleep.

His cheek brushed against hers, the faint roughness of his jaw catching against her skin enough to draw her back to awareness of the sound of the ocean and his breathing against her. His lips brushed against her cheek and she turned towards the contact. His breath warm over her skin, she was aware of only that sensation, his lower lip catching slightly against her cheek.

She turned further towards his mouth, her lips touching against his. He breathed in against her, drawing in through his nose and out, his out breath hot against her skin. His lips brushed against hers, soft and super sensitive. Nothing existed in her sleepy consciousness except that point of contact, of the fullness of his lower lip, catching ever so slightly against hers, then touching with more pressure, which she returned it. His lips were warm against hers, pressing and then softening off, for her to seek them out again, pressing her lips to his again.

As their lips parted from each other's the soft sound of the kiss could be heard, drawing her awareness further to what was occurring, but not enough to prevent her from leaning forward to meet his lips again. His lips parted under hers a fraction this time, then sliding, grazing to capture her lower lip between his.

He drew her lip between his, the warm sensation now slight damp as she felt the presence of the inside of his mouth. She set her lips further around his, and touched her tongue against his lip. She felt and heard his intake of breath at the small contact, and their mouths parted to capture each other again and this time she parted her lips, resting them against his and touched her tongue forward, meeting his in the hot wet place where their mouths met.

She tilted her head to set her mouth further against his, sliding the tip of her tongue against his, their breaths combining. His tongue withdrew, the suction of his mouth strong on her lips, and she pressed closer to maintain it for a moment longer, before they parted again with the kiss sounding soft and loud between them.

Her eyes still closed, his mouth from hers now, she licked her lips and settled her head back into the warm cradle of his arm, pressing her body closer to him. His body drew even closer to hers, the weight of his arm over her drawing her closer. Then the soft touch of his lips against her cheek, sliding up to her cheekbone and then away, for his cheek to rest against her temple. She drew in the warm, John-scented air around her and once again surrendered to the heavy pull of sleep.

The wash of the ocean was louder and closer when she next woke, the air breezing over her side as John had rolled away slightly onto his back again. She lay snuggled up to his side, tense against the cold that told her that it was well into the night now. She opened her eyes to see that the beach was far darker than before, and the desire to get inside rose up insistently.

She sat up carefully, one of her feet chilled where it had been stretched out from the blanket and John. She brushed her hair from her face, blinking as she drew both her feet back well under the blanket, trying to focus her sleepy mind.

"John," she uttered, setting one hand against his chest and adding a slight shake to wake him. He grunted slightly, then louder with a shudder that told her that he too felt the new late chill to the air.

She sat up further from him, wriggling her toes to circulate warmth, and she ran both her hands over her hair and down her neck, struggling to wake herself enough to get up from the blankets.

John sat up next to her, the movement abrupt to her sleepy consciousness. He lifted his arm, turned to look at his watch. She could not see as much of him as before, the night darker and more clouds blocking the moonlight from above.

"It's _really_ late," he muttered.

"And colder," she whispered back, turning her face into the cold air off the ocean, hoping the chill would help focus her further.

"We should head back," he suggested, his voice deep and gravelly with sleep. He moved quickly though as he got up, faster than she felt able.

She got up to her feet, the sand colder under her the soles of her feet as she stepped from the blankets. As John gathered up the blankets, carrying them away to the shelter, she pulled her sandal straps from her belt and worked to disentangle them from one another. As she did so, she looked towards the tempting shelter. They could sleep in there, as was common she suspected, but it was open on all sides to the chilled air off the ocean and she just wanted to get to a soft bed to sleep properly. John emerged from the shelter as she dropped her sandals to the sand and slipped into them, loosely securing them enough to walk.

John turned, looking up towards the bank behind the shelter where there was no set path, but there would be enough purchase for them to climb it. He looked back to her to ask, but she was already moving towards it with him. She was too sleepy to attempt to run towards the bank, which would have helped, instead she accepted John's outstretched hand and together they scrambled up the bank, faster than she would have expected in their currently sleepy state. The burst of adrenaline it took woke her a little further, and as they reached the top, she looked down the length of the bank's top path to judge where to head into the gardens.

"This way," John told her, tugging on her hand that he still held. He pushed forward, not down a path, but into the vegetation.

She followed him, trusting him, but had to wonder if he was awake enough to judge the direction correctly. "The garden lights are all down, are you sure you know which way to go?" She asked his back, his white shirt faintly visible in the thick darkness of the night and the press of trees around them.

"The path turned to the right around these trees, so we should hit it if we head straight," he replied. "You're usually the one with the homing pigeon skills," he told her over his shoulder, his tone amused. He headed around a large tree and pushed on in a roughly straight line.

"I am too tired to think straight," she confessed to him, just walking, following the light of his shirt and the gentle pull of his fingers among hers. She noted that her fingers were intertwined with his, and that she had not noticed until now. Such an intimate way to hold someone's hand and she had just slipped into it with him without any awareness of doing so. The memories of softly shared kisses only infused her with more of a sense of everything seeming abstract and ethereal around her. She wondered if this were some dream and that she was still asleep on the beach beside him, or perhaps still asleep on her bed from this afternoon. She shook her head at the thoughts, stumbling almost, and just kept following him, time seemingly stretched out, yet she also knew that not much time had passed.

"Torren has not been sleeping well," she found herself saying towards John's shirt. "He wakes in the night and crawls into my bed, and I find myself unable to sleep very deeply, worried that he may wake or that I may roll onto him in my sleep," she confessed to his back.

"You won't," John told her with conviction that made her wonder how he could be so certain.

She pushed aside a small branch from her hair and as she released it, she saw the faintest light ahead through the vegetation.

"Here's a path," John whispered to her, as if there was need to conceal their presence.

The trees parted enough around them that she could see the break ahead, into which John stepped down and onto the path. He reached back for her, his hand pulling from hers, and she let him help her down onto the path. The ground being more solid here, she felt the call of the hotel and finally she felt more orientated as to where they were.

"This way," she pointed down the path and moved forward, John at her shoulder, his hand no longer around hers. His presence was very close beside her though, since they could barely see one another along the now dark path. It was so late that even the path lights had been extinguished, yet they followed the path with few problems.

"The hotel's lights are all off," John remarked quietly from her side and she looked forward, through the thinning trees and shrubs around them, to see that he was correct, for earlier tonight they had been able to see the hotel from this point. She had a moment of doubt that perhaps they had taken the wrong path, but dismissed it, for the path turned and they were back on the long straight route to the hotel up ahead. Only one light was in fact still shining, and it was from the side where one of the pools was located. It was likely that on the other side of the complex, where the main entrance was located, that there would be more lights on, but not this side.

"We may have to go round to the very front," she suggested.

"I think I left the patio door of my room open," John replied, "we can get in that way."

She let out a breath of relief and then glanced to him. "Your room _is_ on the ground floor?" Though his shirt was a faint glow in the night, she could barely even see the outline of his body and no detail of his face.

"Yes," he replied and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Good, I do not think I could handle climbing up balconies just now," she replied with relief. I just need a soft bed on which to lie," she said the last words with deep feeling. "Somewhere comfortable to rest." The prospect was so enticing that she realised that she was walking faster, desperate to get inside. The air was cool, but she did not notice, so intent on getting back to the hotel.

As the path left the trees and flowerbeds behind, the moonlight became brighter, allowing her to see details of the building ahead of them, and she could finally see John again beside her. They reached the hotel building and John pushed ahead, looking up at the building to orientate himself to where his room was located.

They headed round to the right side of the outcropping of the building, passing one large swimming pool. The only light this side of the complex, not so bright now in the moonlight, turned out to be a single source shining just over the pool's surface, presumably to warn people of its location in the depth of the night's darkness.

"This way," John uttered quietly, and they moved around the pool and through the empty café area beside it. It was strange to be walking through a normally busily populated area as this without anyone else around.

They reached the low walls that ran around the small seating areas outside the lower floors at this side of the building. John worked his way along, until he paused and climbed over the wall of one patio. Teyla waited at the wall, watching as he moved through the moonlight to the large glass door that led into the hotel room beyond. There was a thin curtain on the inside and John peered cautiously through a break in it to look inside.

"This is it," he whispered.

"You are sure?" She asked amused as she climbed over the wall herself. "For if you are not, this may be very embarrassing for all concerned," she told him as she reached his side.

He looked back at her with a moonlit smile and pulled at the door handle. The door opened under his hand and he slid it to the side and parted the curtains inside.

"See, told you," he said back at her with confidence that she realised he had lacked before.

She gave him a look and moved past him into the room as he held the curtain aside. The room inside was almost identical to hers, though larger. A large bed stood set against the wall opposite, its plush thick mattress calling to her.

"Thank the Ancestors," she muttered to herself as she loosened her sandals from her feet. Behind her, John slid the door shut again, securing it closed. She kicked her sandals aside and headed to the bed, the prospect of sleep already pulling at her.

She reached the foot of the bed and set one knee on the mattress before he stopped her.

His body was suddenly against her back, his hands on her upper arms, and his breath warm over the side of her neck. She paused, the sudden sensual moment pulling her from the promise of sleep, to the sudden prospect of his kiss again. The kisses before had been a small moment, a simple kiss that could have been explained away, but his hands were heavy on her arms now and she leant into the warmth of his breath, his chest against her back.

His hands slid from her arms, reaching around her, enfolding her in his presence as his arms surrounded her from behind, enclosing her in his embrace. She rested back further against him, inhaling the sensation of him around her, and reached back to his sides, gripping tight handfuls of his shirt, as he nuzzled his nose and mouth against her right cheek. She tilted her head into that touch, that promise, hearing his needful breathing as loud and fast as her own.

The ethereal quality of the night was continuing it seemed, and she found herself caught up in its spell once more. The room was full of shadows around them, but moonlight enough entered through the curtain behind him to send light over the bed before them.

His mouth pressed to her cheek, his tongue within the kiss, licking against her skin. The passion welled up inside of her, intense in a manner she could not recall feeling before, and perhaps another aspect of this lingering magical spell from this evening. She pressed herself back further against him, bunching up more of his shirt in her hands so that her fingertips eventually met his skin. She ran her hands across that exposed skin, his sides warm and full of life under her touch. He kissed her cheek again, his breath loud by her ear and she closed her eyes tightly, surrendering to the situation.

She turned her head, seeking out his mouth with her own, and tightly pressed her lips to his. The kiss instantly became hungry, his tongue sliding into her mouth for the first time and she heard herself whimper, grasping at his side and his arms over her.

She licked into the kiss, sliding her tongue with his and his arms loosened around her, one hand dropping to rest over her middle, massaging a wide circle over her stomach through her top. She gasped into the sensation, his mouth sliding to her throat, pressing his face into her neck, his mouth hot and wet on her skin.

A deep rhythm had somehow began within her, and she did not know if it was her own heartbeat that set the rhythm, but it seemed to be there, pulsing through her, his circles over her belly in time with it, his licking circling against her skin and she squeezed his sides in time with it. Her breathing broke with the rhythm as she pressed right back against him, a tight grip on his waistband to press her backside against his groin. She felt the elemental hardness of him pressing back and she sighed out loudly with the feel of it, of the knowing of the desire, of the passion, and she abandoned herself to the moment completely.

Her legs loosened under her and she leant forward, reaching for the support of the bed, but he leant forward with her, keeping his groin and chest against her, and together they kept falling, their knees hitting the thick hotel carpet at the foot of the bed. She gripped tight handfuls of the bed's covers before her, leaning in towards it, rubbing back against him in time with that basic rhythm, his mouth and hand keeping in time, raising the speed of it and she whimpered. In another place or another more mindful time, she may have regretted the sounds she made, the cries and sighs, and the fact that she did not care, too lost in the pure moment to even consider her actions and cries.

She released the bed and grasped at his sides again, pushing her hands back under his shirt to his skin. His hands dropped down her front, rushing up under her top in turn, drawing it up and she lifted her arms up for him to pull it from her. With her arms stretched high above her head, the air met her heightened nipples, teasing them further, and the top aside, she reached her hands back to touch his head and neck behind her. His mouth was once again at her neck, sucking and kissing, but his hands…his hands slid around her, over her breasts, sliding and cupping. The rhythm pounded still, rotating in time with her hips and his hands on her. She arched her body, pressing against his manhood and her breasts further into his hands.

Over her shoulders, she gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled upwards. He pulled his arms from around her, his back parting from hers for only a moment and she saw his shirt falling to the floor to their right, but already his hands were back over her and the warm texture of his chest hair teased against her back. She dropped her head forward, her hair falling around her head, and saw his hands sliding over her bared skin, gripping her breasts and sliding down to her skirt's waistband.

His mouth slid over the back of her shoulder, his tongue wet, his breath hot and his lips soft up to the back of her neck. She arched back up as his hand slid under the waistband of her skirt, cupping her through her underwear. He caressed, in time with her rocking, his hips moving with her and she gripped the end of the bed again.

She reached down with her free hand and pushed at her skirt, pushing it down and he helped, pushing the garment down her thighs. She set her hands on the end of the bed again and pushed herself up onto her feet, his hands holding her skirt as she stood up from it. She steadied herself with a hand tight in his hair as she stepped from the skirt, turning towards him.

His palms slid up her bare legs, straight up to her hips, gripping tightly as she turned to face him. She looked down her body to where he knelt, his mouth pressing against her lower belly as he caught the edges of her underwear and pulled them down in one swift decisive move. She fell down over him as he did, unable to wait longer, her hands sliding over his naked shoulders, along the lines of his neck and down his back, watching the filtered moonlight shining over his skin. As her knees met the floor again, she pressed her mouth to his shoulder. He pulled back, having pulled her underwear down to her lower legs at least before he abandoned the task to slide his hands up her thighs, to tightly grip both sides of her backside.

She lifted her mouth to his, the kiss hot, open, and holding nothing back, as she ran her hands down his chest. The hair there teased her fingers, and she ran her hands over the flat plain of muscles, gripping occasionally, in time with their rocking kiss and his squeezing of her backside. She found the tight small peaks of his nipples and slid her fingertips over them. He broke his mouth from hers with a hiss through his teeth, so she repeated the action, gaining a brief glance of his chest in the moonlight as he pulled back only to press back against her, pushing her to lean back against the end of the bed behind her.

His mouth touched down at the base of her throat and she ran her hands up his neck, wrapping her fingers around the back of his neck and then up into her hair. His mouth slid down her chest, enclosing around one of her nipples and she cried out, arching back further, his hands still on her backside and she rocked into his grasp.

His mouth was wet, licking over and over her nipple, sliding over to bury his face in her cleavage and sliding onto her other nipple. At her backside, his hands pulled her hips against his middle, one hand sliding lower and his fingers quested between her legs. Stroking with one long finger, again in time with their rhythm, of her breathing, of his mouth sucking on her breast, he slid along the line of her womanhood, parting her folds with his touch. She rubbed back against him, angling herself to help him, and as his fingertip circled her entrance she cried out the loudest. She could feel her own wetness meeting his touch and as his finger slid inside, she gasped out his name, arching fully back now, her shoulders against the top of the bed.

His hand left her body, sliding around her hip as he pulled his mouth from her chest, and he pulled her down over him. She rested against his chest, running her arms around him as he turned, laying them both to the floor. As he twisted, she rolled with him, lying down onto her back as he moved over her. His mouth returned to her breasts, sucking one nipple, and she began wriggling to the rhythm against the floor and him. She heard the jangle of his belt buckle and reached down to feel him shedding his trousers, her hands meeting the naked skin of his hips as he did. He pulled up from her, sitting back as he pulled his clothes away.

She lay on the floor, her body pulsing with the beat, watching his arousal revealed, straining for her. As he threw the last of his clothing aside, she stretched her legs out on either side of his hips as he sat down on the carpet. He ran his hands down her legs as she set her feet on either side of his hips, and she watched through the moonlight as his hands slid up to her hips, and one continuing up her stomach to massage one of her breasts. She moved with the massage and parted her legs further, her outer thighs resting against his legs stretched out either side of her.

His hand slid back down her, joining his other one to part her intimately and he slid his thumb around her centre, his fingers over her mound as he slid his thumb into her. She arched again, gasping, desperate for more, for him, and she pushed herself up from the floor. She gripped his strong toned shoulders to pull herself up onto his lap, her legs around his waist.

He wrapped his arms around her, assisting her up, and she reached between them, touching his manhood, feeling the heat and softness of it around the hard want. She rose up higher and he pulled her right up against his chest, his mouth against her neck as she guided him to her centre and pushed down onto him. He groaned out loudly against her throat, his mouth open against her skin. She held onto him tightly, one arm around his head, clutching his hair as she held him close. Immediately the rocking rhythm began, rubbing together, pulling him from her a small amount and pushing back inside. He groaned with her, her moaned sighs her outlet as the passion rose even higher.

She pulled back from him enough to look down their joined bodies, watching them rocking together. He gripped around her hips and pushing her away, pulling himself out and then pulling her flush back against him, burying right back inside. She watched the action again, pulling back with him, and pushing right back against his groin with her own. She dropped her head back, adding a roll to her hips with the next joining. He groaned deeply, ending in a long loud breath as he repeated the movement.

She reached back behind her to support herself on straight arms against the floor, leaning back, her backside meeting his lower legs now folded under her slightly. She continued the pulling and pushing of their joining, sliding them together along the full length of him. One of his hands rose up her body, clasping her skin, at her waist, at her ribs and then up over her nipples to her neck, over her shoulder and back down to massage her breast. She moaned with the touch, looking back to him, seeing his eyes directly on her breasts and then down to where they were parting and rejoining. His mouth was open, his lips pouted around his loud breaths and she shoved herself against him harder, faster, the pleasure mounting so fast, so out of control.

The pleasure was travelling, building within her and she pushed off the carpet to reach for him again. He pulled her back against him, one arm around her, the other still grasping her breast that in another moment may have been rough, but right now it was perfectly intense, rousing and telling her how desperate he also felt.

She pressed her chest even tighter against him, pressing her open mouth to his, breathing against him as much as she was kissing him. He gripped her hips with both hands, his fingers over her backside and pulled her to him as much as she pressed. The pace was growing even faster and she arched up, groaning loudly, rocking, swaying and grinding in any way with him that made the friction increase. She reached down between them, touching against her self, knowing how to push herself to the point that he was almost approaching, but he released her hip and his fingers covered hers, pressing where she pressed. She willingly surrendered the position, setting her fingers over his, showing through pressure how to touch her, and he immediately found the rhythm, the angle and she groaned, the pleasure shattering abruptly.

She gripped his shoulders, digging her nails into him, reaching past him with one hand to the bed behind him as she ground against him, her head thrown back as she cried out. The passion was a wash over her, overtaking completely and lasting what seemed like forever. He pushed her back, folding himself over as he laid her down. He pushed into her, leaning right over her, his head over her chest. She wrapped her hands around his head, holding him to her as she felt him release his seed into her, and his groans pressed against her chest as he kept thrusting. Safe in the knowledge that she was currently protected from pregnancy she surrendered to it, of the moment of his release within her.

He shifted, lifting her with him as he twisted, laying her back down again to the side so that he now could lay partially over her and he thrust out the last of his pleasure. She gripped him tightly, one leg high up around his middle and he reached down between them again to touch her as she had shown him. Surprised by the focus, she moaned with pleasure, grinding against the touch, his arousal still buried inside her.

His mouth closed over one of her nipples again, wetly sucking as he shuddered another few times into her, his fingers rubbing and caressing softly and then with more pressure, capturing his hand between their bodies as he laid down fully over her. The last of his energy was gone, his body relaxing as he lost himself into the warm pleasure ridden place that she was once again entering. His fingers pressed tight, and she wrapped her legs around him further, pulling him tighter to her. She rocked in his embrace, running her hands through his hair where his mouth panted against her throat. He lay naked over her, and the sight of that in the moonlight, of another brief shudder through his body, of his touch against her, and the feeling his seed between her legs and she was lost again. She arched between him and the floor, her head pressed back against the carpet as she groaned out loudly the deep penetrating release.

He ran his mouth over her skin, kissing her throat as she moaned out one last time, shuddering and her hands clasped tightly around his shoulders. The release felt amazing, the warmth spreading and her entire body dropped yet again into a place of complete relaxed exhaustion.

She lay back, breathing loudly yet smoothly with her pleasure, John's face buried into her neck. He was breathing loudly still, long out breaths that moved them together, the rhythm now slower, calmer, and full of pleasure. She breathed that natural beat, the overwhelming peace engulfing her.

His arms slid around her, drawing her from the soft peaceful half sleep, and she surrendered to that as well, feeling his arms under her, his chest briefly against her side and then the most amazing soft comfort of a bed under her.

She rolled into that comfort, his warmth following her, his body against hers. She caught at his hand, or his arm, she could not tell, except that his warmth folded over her, the softness under her and she finally fell into deep sleep.

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Onto Part 3


	3. Chapter 3

**Part**: 3/5

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She woke in increments, with each moment becoming conscious of more around her. The first awareness being of the sunlight glowing around her, then white sheets, a tanned arm around her, and the cooler air over her skin.

When she next surfaced, the air against her breasts registered, but there was warmth cupping under one. She turned onto her back, the soft mattress comforting and supportive under her. The cool air remained over her and she reached down blindly for the covers. She found material around her waist and pulled it up to cover her chest, the extra warm hand now resting over her middle, and she slipped back into a light doze.

She was aware on some level of the distant sounds of people outside the walls of the room, of the breathing beside her, and the occasional movement of the mattress under her, but none of it disturbed her. Instead, she lay completely comfortable and relaxed.

The mattress shifted under her and the warm weight against her middle moved, sliding against her skin as sleepily as she felt. The touch slid up and down her middle with small almost idle movements, but it soothed her deeper into the relaxed sleepy mood. Fingers slid around one of her breasts, softly caressing touches and then down to her middle again. She sighed at the contact, lying happily under it, enjoying the soft faintly arousing touch.

The next time she rose into consciousness, the light was brighter against her eyelids, and she opened them to see the curtain filtered sunlight shining across the ceiling above her. She stretched her body slightly, rolling her shoulders back and her feet around under the lightweight of the sheet over her. As she did, more awareness of the room around her returned, and she blinked up at the ceiling with fuzzy confusion.

She looked down at herself, seeing her own skin exposed, the sheet lying around her middle, though she could feel a hand lying on her lower stomach, only his forearm visible above the line of the sheets. The memories began to push forward, despite her already knowing who owned the arm and hand, but it was only as she blinked again that the enormity of the situation suddenly arrived.

She lifted her head slightly from the pillow glancing down the bed to the room beyond, to the glass door through which they had arrived last night, and the foot of the bed where so much had occurred. The memories shuffled into order and importance and she felt the shock as well as the flush of aroused pleasure to her body to recall it all.

The heavier covers had been knocked off the bed, or perhaps had been removed by him, because she could put together enough broken memories to guess that he had carried her to the bed. Alongside the outline of her legs under the single white sheet over the bed, she could see the outline of his legs. She followed up the line of a long strongly shaped leg to the swell of a hip and then skin above the sheets bunched up around his waist. His skin stood out in sharp contrast to the white sheet, but it was the memories that flooded her that made her feel slightly flushed again. She had gripped his hips, his backside and pulled him tighter to her. The images and feelings, sensations and remembered sighs and moans.

Her gaze travelled further up, to the flat stomach turned towards her, up to where his arm stretched out to rest against her. His forearm was a very familiar sight to her, but only once or twice before had she seen the rest of his arms and chest that were usually hidden under his uniform. It was all as handsome as the areas of him she knew very well. She smiled at her thoughts, amused and slightly embarrassed at herself, as she followed up the lines of his chest to finally look up at his face.

He was her friend, her colleague, and now he was lying naked beside her in bed.

It was not the first time she had thought of him there, but it had always been an abstract and unrealistic dream. Now, here he was and she could barely believe what had happened between them.

She turned her head against her pillow to look at his face more clearly. He was fast asleep, his cheek pressed into the hotel pillow. His expression was completely relaxed with sleep. She had the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch his cheek, to run her fingers through his hair. To press her lips to his, and press herself close to him again.

She blinked at the thought. Last night had been unbelievably passionate. It had rushed away from her without thought, as if they had been caught up in a wave of intense feeling, the night somehow removed from the rest of their lives. They worked together, had been friends for so long, and yet with only a few soft kisses something had ignited. She could remember his passionate touch, emblazing something within her that had simply broken and given way. She had lost herself into it, surrendering with abandonment. This was her John, who last night she had gripped to her, her hands on his backside, his sex inside her and their mouths together.

It had been beyond passionate and, in truth, she believed it to have been _the_ most passionate lovemaking she had ever experienced before. She had been quite unlike her usual self, revelling in her sensual nature in a way that she had not previously. She had wanted him desperately, perhaps due to the fact that her desire for him had been building for years, long denied and then so explosively allowed an outlet.

He had been as wild has her though, touching her with no hesitation. He had not held back, not shown any doubt in what they had shared. His mouth had slid over her, his body as urgent as hers for their joining.

Athosian rites of lovemaking usually involved quiet build up, a couple giving time and space to allow pleasure to build. There would usually be the gazing into one another's eyes and kissing to be focused on, the joining taken in good time with conversation as to how to touch, how to begin. That was the way she had previously known lovemaking to be, except perhaps for with one of her first lovers, Silenos.

They had been young and caught up in the natural demands of the awakening sexuality of teenage years. The two of them had run off into the forest, touching and kissing in ways that were never discussed and certainly not shared in the open public air of the forest where they could have been heard or seen. They had not been found though, and their passion had been explosive, intense, and eventually short-lived. Silenos, being a young man, had tired of her affections alone, and one day she had learnt he had been seen heading into the forest with another girl from the camp. She had set off into the forest to confront them, but then when she was deep inside the trees that cold place inside had struck. She had fled, finding her hiding place in her old caves as the Wraith had arrived. It had been on that day that she had lost her necklace and that the Wraith had found Silenos and the object of his new affection in the forest.

Her father had been beside himself with fear and anger with her when she had emerged from the caves and returned to the camp later that day following the culling. It had been on that day that she had learnt the danger of losing oneself in wild passion and jealousy. She had loved since Silenos, but never with the physical intensity of that time.

Until now.

Her lovemaking with Kanaan had been what she had expected of the act – taken with time and attention, soft, gentle and pleasurable enough, but last night…she had felt that deep overwhelming lust that she remembered sharing with Silenos. The desire that would honestly have had her tearing John's clothes from his body last night if he had not removed them fast enough. She had wanted her mouth on his skin, her hands clenched in his flesh, his manhood inside her. She had lost herself to the passion, abandoning herself to moving with John in a way that held no thought, no questioning or ritual, just purity of intensity and feeling.

She had given of herself in a new way, taking and giving without thought, without concern of technique or worry. She had revealed a new depth to herself, laid herself bare for the experience. She felt raw from that, feeling slightly vulnerable to the fact that she had cried out so very loudly, so full and demanding in her passion. She had lost herself and had enjoyed every moment of the experience.

She studied John's face as he slept deeply. She wondered if last night had been as dramatic for him as for her, and she hoped that he had truly enjoyed the union as much as she had. She wondered what they would say to one another when he woke and they looked at each other in the light of the day.

A sense of growing discomfort told her that she would have to leave the bed soon to visit the bathroom, but she wished to remain, reluctant to risk breaking the spell in which she had been caught with him. The bed was so comfortable, her body relaxed. She felt rather decadent lying naked except for the thin sheet around her and John's waists. Yet, the discomfort was growing, so carefully she shifted in the bed, turning to sit up and away.

She swung her legs out from under the sheet to sit on the side of the bed. Her body felt good, warm and relaxed in a very deep way that likely was just as much to do with emotions than with the wonderful physical release from last night. She ran a hand over her face, pushing her hair from her face as she woke further, the air against her reminding her that she was entirely naked out from under the sheet.

She glanced down to the floor, hoping that some of her hastily removed clothes from last night may be visible, only to spy some dark folded clothes on the floor near her feet that looked like they had fallen from the bed. She reached down for them, guessing they were John's usual nightclothes. They were indeed a pair of soft black trousers and a navy coloured t-shirt. She set the trousers on the bedside table for him, and unfolded the shirt for herself.

She pulled it on, his scent surrounding her, as she rose from the bed. She smiled at the long length of the shirt on her where it reached down to cover her hips. As she moved around the side of the bed, she glanced back to John sleeping soundly.

At the foot of the bed, she saw the sea of bedcovers that had either been kicked or pushed aside. Among the sheet, their clothes were scattered and she felt a light flush to recall each moment when those items had been removed. She dipped and collected them up quickly, laying them all on a near by chair, except for her underwear, which she carried with her into the bathroom across the room.

Once inside she closed the door and used the facilities. She pulled her underwear back on and as she washed her hands, she saw herself reflected in the mirror. Her skin was still slightly flushed, but she looked rested and sleepy. She ran her hands through her hair, trying to tame it somewhat, memories of John's hands in her hair returning.

She looked down to the sink. To the side there were hotel bathroom products and among them a sealed disposable toothbrush. She opened it and turned to the small dark bag that sat close by. She was sure that John would not mind. It was open, the can of shaving cream obvious, the accompanying razor set on the side of the sink. She pulled the edges of the toiletry bag open further to reveal the usual male items inside. One item that caught her eye was a glass bottle that held the liquid scent he had been wearing last night. She glanced at the door, feeling a little foolish, as she lifted the bottle and opened it to sniff at the contents. It was stronger than it had been on him, and did not hold the other natural element of his scent, but it was very enjoyable. She secured it closed again, returned it to the bag and pulled out the tube of toothpaste.

She brushed her teeth absently, her mind replaying last night. Part of her wanted to celebrate and bask in the arrival of something she had wanted for a very long time, but another part of her was cautious, careful that this was not liable to lead her into a more painful place.

As she rinsed out her mouth, she reflected, perhaps hoped, that she was sure that John was not one to idly share a bed with someone. Surely, he too had felt the intensity of last night. It had been something beyond passion, beyond the physical, surely that was something he had also felt. Or was she simply swept up in the fantasies of a woman in love? She dried her mouth and set the toothbrush in the pot beside his.

She looked back at herself in the mirror, smiling at the fact that 'Airforce' was written boldly across her breasts on his shirt. She lifted the material and again inhaled his scent from it. She frowned at herself. This was not behaviour that she was used to, as was behaving without prior thought as she had last night. And here she was sniffing at John's clothes, just his natural scent stirring memories and desires.

Back when Kanaan had made his first offer to her to begin a relationship, she had taken three days to decide to accept. She had discussed with him the fact that she lived in Atlantis and that consequently she would not be able to spend much time with him. They had agreed and retired to his tent, where they had shared their first kisses comfortably, with smiles and candles surrounding them. Last night, her first kiss with John had been very different, so sudden and yet so perfect. She looked back up to her face to see that she had her fingers touched against her lips, having lost herself in the memory. She frowned at herself and shook her head, turning from the mirror. She was hardly a young woman any more. She could appreciate passion, albeit sudden and with more intensity than she had shared before, but she could also acknowledge the fact that she had a tendency to be rather enamoured with John usually, but especially so this morning.

Regardless to how this had had started, she had shared a wonderful night with John, even before their first kiss. The passion had been a surprise, not just in its sudden arrival, but also in its intensity. Now, she was about to return to his bed and wait for the moment when he would wake and they could face what had happened between them in the bright light of the day. That moment was something that she felt an excited, nervous anticipation about, and it was with that knowledge that she moved to the bathroom door and headed back into the main room.

John still slept, lying on his side, the sunlight shining over his exposed chest and back.

She moved around the room, heading back towards her side of the bed, her eyes on him. She allowed herself to focus thoroughly on the sight of him, to enjoy how handsome he was. The sheets were still around his hips, preventing her from seeing any more, but she remembered what she had seen last night. She also remembered the feel of his legs, toned and strong under her hands, as well as his back and hips.

She reached her side of the bed again and eased herself back down onto the mattress, into her place beside him. She settled down onto her side, facing him, tucking one hand under her pillow as she watched him sleep and took in the feel of being here. The air temperature was comfortable, so she stretched out her bare legs over the sheets. She wanted to touch him, yet did not wish to disturb his deep sleep, and there was the still faintly lingering concern that when he woke that he may not be as pleased as she was at the new development. Therefore, she lay quietly beside him, absorbing the moment and letting her body relax.

The moment that woke him was not as she had expected, for a sharp and sudden chime rang out loudly in the room. She jerked with surprise, rising up from the bed on one elbow to look around for the source of the sound, but as it rang again she realised it was coming from the bedside table on John's side. With that second ring, John stirred awake with a groaning indecipherable mumble, turning suddenly away from her in the bed. She watched, more than a little amused and impressed, as he twisted and reached towards the ringing phone on the bedside table in one motion. Despite how sleepy he was, he reached directly for it and, on the second attempt, picked up the handset and held it to his ear.

"Sheppard," he said into it with a deeply sleepy voice. "What time is it?" He asked of the person at the other end.

Turned away from her in the bed now, the sheet had slightly pulled away from his hips to reveal some of his backside and she caught herself staring.

"Okay," he said into the phone as he ran one hand through his hair, and then settled his jaw sleepily into his hand. "No, no," he muttered and she wondered if was an official call. "No, say half an hour," he mumbled into the phone. "For two please."

He was nodding against the handset and she was rather impressed how he was able to carry on his conversation when he was clearly mostly asleep still.

"Thanks," he added and set the handset back down, again taking a second attempt to set it correctly, before he slumped back down onto the bed with a sleepy groaning grumble.

He then rolled back onto his side towards her and from where she was still leant up on one elbow, she saw him blink open his sleepy eyes as he settled back next to her and their eyes met. She smiled softly at him in greeting.

He blinked again, and when his green eyes reappeared this time, she saw growing comprehension in them as he woke up further. His eyebrows rose and looked away lifting his head slightly to look towards the rest of the room and the foot of the bed. He dropped his head back down onto his pillow, his gaze returning to her and he smiled.

"Whoa," he uttered, his voice deep with sleep and stunned amusement.

She let out a laughing breath, agreeing with his assessment, and more than a little pleased at his response.

It was with a strange mixture of delight and slight shyness that she glanced away and then back to him, to see that his eyes were on his shirt that she was wearing.

"You do not mind my borrowing it?" She asked, pulling at the hem of the top around her hips to settle the shirt over her more comfortably. His eyes dropped lower down his shirt to her hips and then rose up to meet her gaze again and he shook his head against the pillow.

His eyes were wide, to the point of staring, and in them she sensed that he shared the same surprise and wonder, at least that was what she hoped she saw there. She also thought she saw pause, and the moment extended between them in silence, as they looked at each other. And so they were in the gazing that she normally expected to occur before even a kiss, let alone what they had already shared. But, then this was a man from elsewhere, not even from the same galaxy as her, and already meant so much to her. They had faced great dangers together and had established a strong friendship.

The affection she held for him rose powerfully, strong even prior to the passion of last night, but now deepened by last night's intensity. Perhaps the passion had been informed by that affection more than she had realised, for he already meant so much to her. More than she had allowed herself to really measure before now. Lying here beside him, she could not deny those feelings, for she trusted him completely. When before had she felt that so completely with a new lover? She had trusted him with her life, her son, and her people before, and now her own body and passion.

The feelings had been building for years, built upon the foundation of their work in Atlantis, working to protect each other, but until now she had believed the deeper elements had not been returned. Last night said differently, as did his open direct gaze now. So many moments from the past years altered in importance – their first meeting, his reaction to her pregnancy, his practical denial of Kanaan's presence in the city, and the look in his eyes now. She had seen an element of that interest before she realised now. This was not so entirely new as she had thought. The electric feel of the air between them in the past had not been purely in her mind or purely from her response to him. Her long built affection was shared.

"I did not know that you felt that way about me," she whispered to him.

His expression shifted, showing brief moments of surprise, amusement and perhaps some embarrassment. He glanced away to the end of the bed and back to her, one eyebrow lifting. "I didn't think you felt _that_ way about me either," he told her, the subtle tension broken by the joking innuendo and the rather strange, almost absurd caution of the moment considering what they had shared last night.

The desire for each other was very clear though, and his eyes dropped to her lips with that staring, slightly surprised, look again. She let her eyes wander a little as well, feeling warm inside at the reality of this new change to their relationship. She had intended to have a discussion with him, but what else was there to say? They liked one another, had shared wonderful passion, and all the other concerns dropped away.

She leant forward on her elbow, setting her free hand on his chest. He lifted his head from the pillow to meet her kiss, his hand sliding around her waist as their lips met. His dark eyed look as she had neared him had shown her how truly he was no longer hiding his attraction for her. She pressed her lips to his, feeling confident and delighted to be the subject of that focus.

His lips were more familiar to her now, though this was the first kiss shared in the light of day and with clear thought before it. He pressed his lips back against hers with equal pressure, no hesitation in the touch, and as she pulled back slightly, he lifted his head to keep the contact a fraction longer. She licked her lips wet and leant back down across the small space between them and pressed her lips back against the plump warmth of his.

Both his hands slid up her back to her neck, sliding up and around to cup both her jaw and cheeks in his palms as he slanted his mouth against hers, deepening the kiss. She rested herself further against him, one hand over his broad chest, tightening her fingers against him slightly. The kiss lingered, soft, slow, and lightly arousing. It was not the intense passion of late last night, but neither was it the half-conscious soft kisses they had first exchanged down on the beach. This time both of them were fully aware, fully giving and receiving, and they were calmer, emotion being shared rather than just physical passion.

He was warm under her, his hands sliding from her jaw to her back and up into her hair, tightening as he slid his tongue deeper into her mouth. She sighed with pleasure, resting further against him, enjoying the feel of his body against hers. The arousal was growing slightly now and he rolled further onto his back, pulling her down over him.

She leant further over him, pressing her chest to his, and she lifted her mouth briefly as she lifted one knee over his middle, so that she could lie directly over him. She saw the pleasure in his expression at her action, his hands sliding down her sides to her hips, as she settled front to front with him, her knees bent up against his sides, and pressed her lips back against his.

He felt wonderful beneath her, his hands gliding around her back, holding her to him as they kissed. The arousal was there, but their kisses were more affectionate and exploratory this morning.

The lazy pleasurable spell enfolded around her, her focus almost entirely focused on his mouth against hers. On their lips against one another's, his tongue against hers, his breath, the sensation of his mouth, of the sharing rhythm that had returned between them.

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Onto Part 4 (to be posted up tomorrow)


	4. Chapter 4

**Part**: 4/5

**Rating**: **M**

**Note****:** Please remember to note the **rating **of this fic, especially for this chapter. This chapter delves into the sensuality a little more, and if its not quite your thing, I am sure you will know which parts to skip ;) So, continuing on from where we left off in chapter 3…

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A loud rap across the room broke through the lazy affectionate atmosphere and she parted her surprised lips from his to look over her shoulder towards the far door across the room.

"Room service," he explained, his hands sliding down to her hips. "I ordered for two if you want to stay for breakfast," he asked her with a tempting smile and a lifted eyebrow, though surely it was clear that she was in no rush to leave his bed and room.

She smiled at the invitation. "I would like that," she replied as she leant her weight to slide back off him to sit beside him again. His hands lingered over her hips and down her leg that she pulled back over him. She smiled at the stroking touch, and as he sat up next to her, his hand still on her leg, she saw the same temptation to linger on the bed was shared.

Another knock at the door, far louder this time, clearly intended to wake someone still suspected to be sleeping inside. John took the hint and properly turned from her, his hand pulling from her leg, as he stood up from the bed. She was graced with the wonderful sight of his entirely naked back view as he got up and moved away across the room. He stretched his back as he walked away, the length of his spine and legs all the more apparent.

As much as she appreciated the view, she suspected he would need something to wear once he got to the door, so smiling she reached for his night trousers still folded up on the bedside table on her side.

"John?" She called to him and he looked back round at her, affording her with another very enjoyable view as he turned. She lifted his folded trousers and tossed them towards him. He dipped to catch them and glanced down at his nudity and back up to her with a sparkling smile. There was another even louder, and more impatient, knock at the door.

"On my way," John called towards the door as he pulled on his trousers, and she felt a small touch of disappointment to see his backside disappear from view, but then the clothing's material sat very well over him she noted as he reached the door and pulled it open.

She laid further back on the bed, pulling the sheet up a little to cover herself some more, especially as she did not know who might be walking past in the hallway.

She could not hear the quiet conversation John and the person outside shared, but she saw the other man's arms appear, handing over a large tray that held their breakfast, John seeming unwilling to let him further into the room. With a few more words, John stood back and nudged the door shut with his hip.

The door shut, she kicked the sheet away again as she sat up and shifted forward on the bed as John approached with the tray. He leant forward and set the tray down on the bed and she settled herself before it, enjoying the scents drifting up from the plates that were revealed as he lifted the metallic plate covers.

"Was the call earlier to offer you room service?" She asked wondering if she would have received a similar call to her empty room.

"No, that was my wake up call," he replied as he set the plate covers down off the bed.

She recalled then that he had been planning to play golf this morning. "For you to play golf today?"

He nodded as he leant back over the tray, preparing the tall pot of coffee for them. "I was planning to," he replied with that amused and flirtatious tone again.

She saw nothing but amusement in his expression, but she did not wish to interfere with his plans for today, knowing how he had enjoyed the golf course yesterday.

"You are not going now?" She asked.

He looked up from the coffee to her. "Mmmmm…golf or naked Teyla?" He pondered with a smile. "That's a tough one."

She smiled at his comment, flattered and enjoying the dark sparkle to his eyes leant so close over the tray.

She looked down at herself and then back up at him. "I am not naked," she pointed out to him softly with a knowing smile.

His eyes dropped down her front, lifting back up to her face, by way of a slow appraisal of her clothed in his shirt. His eyes told her that the naked part would easily be dealt with later. The flush of warmth through her body was instantaneous, his expression and implication making her feel confident and very feminine, and his shirt suddenly felt far heavier over her skin, over her breasts.

He smiled, and she mused how easily the desire was between them now. She smiled up at him in return as she reached forward up over the tray to cup his chin and jaw in her hand as she lifted up enough to press at light kiss to his lips.

She sat back down, drawing her hand from his chin slowly, enjoying the gentle moment. With another smile, he stood up straight from over the tray and moved around the bed to sit down back down on his side. Teyla turned her attention to the breakfast as he settled beside her in front of the tray, his shoulder and arm against hers.

She reached for the pile of still warm toast and split the number of slices onto their plates, beside the eggs and crispy bacon.

"What were you planning to do today?" He asked as he reached forward to lift the coffee jug and poured it into their waiting cups.

Teyla remembered then her own plans and looked over her shoulder towards the bedside clock and then back to John. "Jennifer and I were planning a day by the pool. I am supposed to meet her there at ten o'clock," she informed him as she lifted some toast and dipped her knife into the small pot of dark red jam, smearing a good helping over the slice.

"You've got half an hour to get there," John pointed out.

She smiled as she chewed on her toast, shifting to cross her legs more comfortably, hitching her right knee up on John's leg beside her.

"It was a loosely set time, and I can cancel it," she suggested.

"I could sit by the pool for a day," he considered and she liked that he wished to spend his day with her. "Besides, we should probably put on a show for Murphy."

She chuckled around her food, musing at how the matchmaker evening had actually turned out. "She wished to play matchmaker and it seems that she did."

John shook his head as he ate his cooked breakfast. "I'm not giving her any credit for last night," he stated with a shining smile. "I saw my opportunity and went for it."

As she chewed, Teyla narrowed her eyes at him, growing suspicious. "Were you even on her list last night?" She asked amused.

"I was," he replied instantly, glancing at her as he ate. "She did try to blackmail me into it, and I have _no_ idea who she was planning to put me with. I was hoping to get out of it, then I saw your name on the list and then there you were hiding outside the door…"

"I was not hiding outside the door," she protested.

"You were hiding," he argued with a grin.

She looked away down to her food, trying not to smile and imply that he was right. She had been close to considering a way out of entering that room last night before John had arrived. She forked up some eggs and glanced round at him as she ate.

"So you thought you would persuade me to sit with you instead?" She asked amused to find out that he had seen the situation as an opportunity.

He munched on a piece of crispy bacon as he gave a shrug, accompanied by a rather smug smile. "Didn't want you sitting with that rock guy."

She chuckled at him. "Geologist," she corrected again.

"He seems very popular with the women in the city."

"Olan is a very nice man, who is very enthusiastic about his work," Teyla replied, in part to support Olan, but also to tease John a little.

"Rocks, Teyla. He looks at rocks," John replied.

She smiled at his assessment of Olan's work, fuelled it seemed by a touch of jealousy.

"Rocks can be very important," she replied, though not entirely sure of what went into the role of a geologist, for all she had discussed with Olan so far was his homeland on Earth. She had never seen a human so naturally pale as Olan, even his eyelashes were exceptionally pale. He had told her that most people from his part of Earth were similarly as fair, but she suspected that his crystal blue eyes were more unusual.

"He seems quite popular with you," John said suspiciously, his eyes narrowed at her, but the atmosphere remained that of playful flirtation.

"We have had several discussions," she told him reaching forward to pick up some bacon.

"What kind of discussions?" He asked. His closest hand was settled on her knee now, his fingers idly stroking over her skin.

She looked at him beside her with a purposefully innocent expression. "About Earth," she told him.

He lifted his eyebrows requesting more information and she sensed that he was now actually interested in exactly what she and Olan had discussed. She smiled at him as she reached forward to pick up her coffee cup, leaning her side against his some more, and her arm slid against his as she moved.

"He was telling me about his homeland," she clarified now. "That they have low temperatures and snow almost all year round."

"You should see where I used to work," he told her before he sipped at his coffee.

He set down his cup on the tray, his breakfast already finished he had been so hungry, and now he set his jaw in his hand, his elbow against his far leg. His attention was tightly focused on her, and she glanced at him as she finished her bacon and eggs. He was quiet for a few minutes, his hand on her knee the only movement from him.

She set down her fork, her breakfast complete, and as she lifted her coffee cup, she looked round at him with a smile. He smiled back, with that warm appreciative look that she now recognised.

"So," he began, his tone a little cautious now. "Has there been anyone…you know…around, since you and Kanaan…?"

She shook her head. "No," she told him honestly. "And yourself? I have not seen or heard that you were with anyone, but then you tend to keep things private."

He seemed interested in her choice of words. "No, no one," he told her, glancing down to his hand on her bare knee set up on his leg. "Though, there is one woman I've had my eye on."

She felt a brief flash of worry before she realised who he meant and she smiled as he looked back up at her, his gaze sharp and playful again. It made her feel very warm. His gaze lowered down her front and she felt his eyes on the writing over her chest.

"That shirt has never looked so good," he told her, looking back up to meet her gaze.

She smiled at the compliment and looked down at his shirt over her. She smoothed her hands down over the soft fabric, tugging it down around her hips, musing again how much larger it was on her than it likely was on him.

She looked back up at him to find his eyes on her hands at her hips, then gazing over her bare crossed legs. She looked at his darkened jaw, to his lips, which were parted just a fraction, and she licked her lips, tasting bitter coffee and salty bacon.

The enticing spell slid around them again, and she wandered her gaze down his throat to his bare chest. She could remember how it had felt to slide her hand over him, feeling the toned litheness of him.

She set down her empty coffee cup back onto the tray and looked back at him, to find his eyes had lifted up to meet hers again, the spell enfolding around them, warming the space between them. She wondered how they had ever kept their attraction secret from one another for so many years. The world outside of the walls of this room faded, leaving just the two of them sitting together, limited skin touching except in their minds, for surely he was recalling last night, and enjoying her closeness as she was enjoying his.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze focusing over her shoulder for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "It's almost ten," he told her, his words a question as much as information.

The spell did not break between them though, for she was in no hurry to leave his side, and sensed that he did not care to head to the poolside just yet. She slid her hand over his where it lay on her knee. She knew nothing was needed of them today, and that Jennifer would not worry over her absence for a while. They were on vacation, with no duties, no deadlines, and she was deeply thankful that their relationship had changed here, giving them to spend time together, and not in the city.

"Would you have asked me to have dinner with you in Atlantis if you had not had the opportunity to here?" She asked him as she stroked her hand up and down his forearm.

He smiled as he considered his answer. "I was hoping to build up to it here," he informed her and she sensed a touch of self-consciousness on his part. His closeness the first night here at the inter-department mingle, watching out for her when she wished to be 'rescued' from overly long conversations, altered in its intention and she could see now that he had been watching her, always having noticed her silent requests for assistance whenever she looked for him.

His hand on her knee stroked a wider area, the touch no longer as idle. "Would you have had dinner with me?" He asked her.

"If you had asked me in Atlantis?" She asked, enjoying his warm touch on the inside of her knee, and he nodded. "Yes, I would certainly have had dinner with you," she informed him with a smile, making sure he understood that she too had had her 'eye on him'.

He grinned at her reply, clearly pleased, as she was that they would have ended up sharing a meal together even if last night's opportunity had not presented itself.

She ran her hand further up his arm, sliding her hand around the fullness of muscle and strong sinew. He lifted his jaw from his hand and leant towards her, his shoulder pressing tight against hers. She cupped her hand around his arm as they twisted their upper bodies towards each other, his free hand touching against her neck, sliding up to cup her jaw as their lips met again.

This kiss was new as well, for now they shared greater knowledge of the other, of the fact that they had been heading towards this point. She parted her lips against his, seeking the enfolding spell again, drawing in his presence, his touch, their bodies pressing as close as they could sat beside each other, his hand sliding lower on her inner thigh.

The kiss deepened, the air around them abruptly charged as she felt the passion rising inside her again. Her body was suddenly aching already, buzzing to share with him again, especially informed now by the depth of their mutual desire to have reached this place. That his hands were gentle, warm, and clearly intent to touch more of her, only fuelled the growing desire inside her. She pulled her arm trapped against his out from between them, to slide her hand up his back, enjoying the natural swells and dips of muscle and backbone. Her other hand she stroked up his upper arm, over the lines of his shoulder to slide up into his hair.

He pulled his mouth from hers, holding back a fraction from her. "What about meeting Keller?" He asked, his voice a husky tone.

She ran her hand to the back of his neck. "We can be late to the poolside," she whispered as she touched her lips back against his. He made a deep rumbling sound from his throat as he pressed his lips back against hers forcefully, his tongue sliding into her mouth, twisting with hers. She murmured with pleasure, tightening her hands on him.

He pushed her backwards, turning within her arms as he laid her down on the bed. As her back met the mattress, and he leant further over her, there was a clatter of cutlery and ceramics from the tray still set on the bed. Their lips parted with a surprised breath as they both looked back down the bed to see that the coffee jug remained upright on the tray. They both let out an amused relived breath as he sat back up from her.

As he lifted the tray, turned and deposited it somewhere off the bed, Teyla shuffled back up the bed for more room and stretched out her legs from their crossed position.

The tray aside, John turned back to her, now level with her legs as she had moved up the bed. He shifted from the bed to move up the bed to join up, but paused at her hips, reaching out to where the shirt over her hips had ridden up. He slid his hands over her bared skin, pushing up the material and he leant down and pressed a kiss to her lower belly that he had exposed. She sighed with pleasure at the soft kiss, which moved up her stomach as he pushed the shirt up further. She smiled down at him, running her hands over his bared shifting shoulders, and across his neck, as he pressed his next kiss to her middle. The shirt pushed up further, just covering her breasts as he pressed another kiss to her skin, just under one of her breasts.

She drew in a deep breath, her eyes half closed as she looked down at him, past the crumpled up 'Airforce' caught up in his hands, as he kissed under the swell of her other breast.

He slid his mouth back across her skin to the middle of her stomach, his hands enclosing around her breasts through the shirt.

She moaned at the simple contact, arousing her greatly, the shirt's fabric brushing against her nipples under the warmth of his palms. "John," she gasped breathily.

His hands massaged softly, moving together perfectly, and she arched into the touch. As she did, he pressed his mouth back down against her middle, licking across her skin. She tightened her grip in his hair at the back of his neck, willing his mouth up higher, but enjoying his hands on her and his mouth, wet and hot against her middle.

His head slid lower, kissing straight down her middle and one of his hands slid down her side as he moved, caressing her side, her waist, and down to her hip. The three caresses over her, his hands, and his kisses moving down to her bellybutton, soothed the ache inside, yet also drove it higher. Her delight at the attention, at his touch, was deeply satisfying, yet she wanted more. She ran one hand down from his shoulder, sliding to his hand that massaged her breast through his shirt. She gripped at the thick forearm with her pleasure as his hand withdrew and returned, sliding under the material, his warm palm finally against her sensitive skin.

His mouth had lifted from her stomach as he caressed her breast, his other hand resting on her far hip. She looked down herself, her chest still obscured by fabric, piled up on one side over his hand on her left breast, and she saw his hooded eyes watching her. She smiled at him, her hand sliding back through his hair. He kept his gaze with hers as he pressed a smiling kiss above her bellybutton and then slid his tongue into her bellybutton. She closed her eyes and arched against him at the swirling motion of his tongue that was somehow simultaneously ticklish and arousing. He lifted his mouth to touch the tip of his tongue back inside the dip to tickle and arouse again. She wriggled with a breathy laugh under the contact, both her hands in his hair now. As he lifted his mouth, she opened her eyes to see him smiling up at her, before he pressed soft kisses out away from her bellybutton.

Sighing with pleasure, she watched as his hand sliding under the shirt to massage over her other breast, then down her stomach, as he kissed lower down her belly. She realised abruptly where he was headed, his kisses at the upper band of her underwear, and she jerked against him.

He lifted his mouth from her abruptly, having sensed her tension, and he looked up her body to her with a questioning look. She realised that her knees were slightly lifted and pressed tightly together beyond him.

She smiled at little self-consciously, but she could tell that he already had understood her reaction.

"You don't want me to kiss you there?" He asked, both of them knowing to where he referred. His expression seemed a mix of surprise, concern, and curiosity.

"It is not common practice among my people," she breathed out her explanation, her voice sounded quite unlike her, so husky and sexual. She felt slightly self-conscious, for she had heard that the practice was very common on Earth, at least in John's culture. Yet, the idea of it felt teasingly wanton, and she knew that he had heard what she had not said in her reply.

"You've never been kissed there?" He asked. His eyes were bright with interest and some lingering surprise, though he had kept the surprise out of his voice.

She glanced down herself, beyond him where her knees had parted slightly of their own accord, memories of Silenos surfacing again. She felt the slight flush to her cheeks as she looked back at him. "Once," she confessed to him. "When I was younger."

"Did you like it?" He asked quietly, though she suspected he already knew.

She grinned as she glanced away, the memories of being with Silenos in the forest were old now, but certain elements had remained in sharp focus for her. She remembered the feel of his head between her legs, the practice so shocking to share. As she had grown older, she suspected that it was not as taboo as rumours would have it, but at the time she had been shocked at not only that he would so willingly set his mouth there, but that it had been so stunningly pleasurable for her.

"Yes," she admitted looking back at John.

He grinned as he nodded, glancing down at her belly. He lifted himself up on the bed, turning so that he was settled on his side alongside her but lying the other direction down the bed. He set his elbow on the bed and rested his head against his hand, seeming in a conversational mood now, though his free hand slid across her bared stomach. His head was level with her hips, though his attention was directed on his hand caressing over her stomach, and then he lifted curious interested eyes to meet hers.

"So no Athosians…?" He asked, glancing down at her groin, so close to where he lay, and lifted his eyebrows suggestively at her. She smiled at the humour of the moment that he had brought, despite the fact that they were talking about something that no Athosians discussed, except when she had been younger, and then only because one girl her age in the camp had been seeing a man from another world. Such conversations were normal for the teenage years, but they were always whispered in secret.

"It is considered rather…" she struggled with how to explain. "It is not necessary for making a child," she said, recounting the standard, quietly informed, explanation that she had been told.

He nodded vaguely as he stroked his hand around her stomach again, covering all of her from her sides, over her ribs, and down around her bellybutton as he considered her answer.

"Do Athosian women kiss men…?" He asked looking up at her and she saw a touch of pink to his cheeks, especially when his eyes glanced briefly down at his own body. She felt more comfortable with the conversation now, knowing that it was as private and intimate for him as well.

She grinned, feeling her own flush to her cheeks. "Yes," she informed him.

He looked surprised by that. "So the guys get the attention, but the women don't?" He asked seeming unimpressed with Athosian men.

She smiled at his response, letting her attention slide down him beside her to the noticeable bulge to the front of his trousers. She reached out and slid her hand down his lower belly to the waistband of his trousers and over the fabric to cover the swell of him under it. She heard and felt his intake of breath as she caressed him very gently, looking back up at him to see his eyes were far darker, and she watched him blink slowly, his enjoyment clear.

"In the fact that, some men…sometimes…may need…assistance," she told him. From the feel of him under her hand, and from her memory of last night, he was far from requiring any such 'assistance'.

Only yesterday, they would have refrained from even discussing a simple date, yet here they were discussing something so intimate, that she had rarely ever discussed with anyone, as she covered him in her hand and his breath rushed over her belly as he pressed a kiss to her skin.

Yet, she felt comfortable with him, feeling that there was no judgement from him, only curiosity. She preferred to be honest with him from the offset about their lovemaking and besides…the idea of sharing such intimate practices with him…

"Have you ever given 'assistance' to a guy?" He asked quietly, his eyes back on her with curiosity and no small amount of arousal.

She smiled at him. "Yes," she admitted, and wondered if that pleased him to know that she had some experience of that practice. She glanced to her hand over him, caressing him gently again, feeling the changes of him with her touch and their conversation. She looked back up at him. "I understand that on Earth, almost every kind of intimate touch and fantasies are accepted."

He looked surprised at her comment, but smiled. "Would this be what you've been leaning from the ladies on the Poker Nights?" He asked.

"In is in the nature of us women to discuss things, and they have shown me aspects of Earth culture that you certainly would not have shared with me," she informed him with an amused smile.

She in turn had told them of Athosian lovemaking ritual practices over the poker table, and they had informed her of their cultures, through stories, jokes, and a few magazines that had been passed round the table to be studied and laughed at. Such discussion would not have ever occurred around an Athosian table, except perhaps quietly between very close friends when younger and first learning about love.

John's eyebrows rose up his forehead. "Really?" He asked, clearly interested in the details discussed, but she suspected he would not ask right now. His attention was on his hand sliding up her stomach, under her shirt to caress lightly over her breasts again.

He leant forward slightly to press his mouth to her belly again, breathing over her skin as his lips hovered over her. She cupped her hand around him through his trouser front and closed her eyes to the sensation of his hands, his touch and his arousal growing harder against her hand.

His hand slid out from under his shirt over her, sliding back down her side to her hip and up again, and he lifted his mouth from her, looking back up at of her again.

"Did Kanaan ever kiss you between your legs?" He asked quietly.

His question thrilled her in a strange way, perhaps because of the possessive element of his interest. She ran her hand up from his groin, sliding up his stomach, enjoying the feel of his body, toned, strong, and full of contained physical power.

"No," she informed him, and she saw the subtle shift of expression that gave away his reaction. She smiled knowingly at him, reaching up further to his neck and jaw.

"That pleases you greatly," she concluded, but did not wait for his answer, for she saw the truth plainly in his expression. It was a very male expression.

She stroked her fingers along the sharp edge of his jaw, feeling the subtlest touch of stubble against her fingertips.

"You want to kiss me between my legs," she said, caressing along his jaw and cheek again.

The idea teased at her, informed by the long remembered memories of Silenos, and of what she had leant of Earth sexual practices. She had not entertained the prospect before, reducing her experiences with Silenos as youthful experimenting, but now the offer was before her, and that it was John…

He looked straight at her, his expression serious. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Teyla," he said firmly. "Especially with me."

She nodded, appreciating his point, but she was thinking back to what she had been considering earlier. She and John had begun this relationship entirely differently to how she expected romance and lovemaking rites to be initiated. For years she had waited for him to indicate that he wished more than friendship, and though she understood that on Earth as well as on Athos that men usually initiated courtship, she had to wonder if she had asked him first years before now… For all these years the potential had been simmering between them, and they had held back from it. If she had only asked him to dinner one night…

She would not wish her life altered though. She loved that she had Torren, loved the many years of friendship with John, and so could not look back on any of it with regret. However, it had also shown her, as had her life on Atlantis, that she was not one to life a traditional Athosian life. She had tried, with Kanaan, but it had not worked out, and here she had experienced true passion with a man whom she already loved, in a way far removed from what she was used to. Perhaps it truly was time to accept the non-traditional nature of her life, in all its forms – from living away from her people, to not remaining with Kanaan, and now in exploring an intense passion with a man from another galaxy.

She stroked her fingers through John's hair, enjoying that she was free to do so now - to touch him, to kiss him, and to share new experiences with him. Her body was already sensitive from his previous caresses, but the very thought of his head lower, kissing her…her breathing felt louder and heavy over her open lips, her breasts aching to be touched again, and she rubbed her thighs together slightly. He noticed all this, his gaze shifting to her legs, up her body to her eyes and lips.

She stroked her fingers down to his jaw again. The idea, the offer, thrilled her body enough to tell her how much she wished to explore this, yet her mind still wondered as to the enjoyment a man could receive from such an act. It was obvious that men thoroughly enjoyed touching a woman between her legs, as women did of men, but this was a far more intimate.

"Are you sure you would enjoy it?" She asked to be sure.

He smiled at that, the spell breaking slightly. He lifted his head from his hand and sat up beside her.

"How about we agree to stop if either of us isn't enjoying ourselves?" He suggested as he bent forward over her, his mouth heading for hers. She nodded as she met his descending lips, sliding her hands over his shoulders to hold him close as they kissed softly.

The nature of their kissing had changed, now slower, sliding with more focus. He was seducing now with his kiss, stroking his tongue against her to encourage her further against him, drawing the sensuality between them to the forefront. She surrendered to it, returning the kiss with equal measure, sliding her tongue into his mouth, her hands over his skin and breathing his breath.

Yet, she was not one to simply lie back and be the object of seduction, for she wished him to be lost as well back into the spell, for him not to have to plan and seduce with such focused intent.

She ran her hands down his back, down the twisted length of him as he sat beside her yet leant forward over her. At his waist, she ran her hands around the waistband of his trousers and pushed them carefully down. He pulled from her kiss, one of his hands dropping to help her ease the material from him, but he had to sit up some more to free himself completely from his last item of clothing, leaving him gloriously naked again.

She watched as he pulled the clothing free, running her hand up the strong thick thigh closest to her. Free of his clothes he looked back down at her, his hands sliding up her body to where his shirt was still caught up around her breasts. He slid his palms under the fabric, sliding up over her breasts as he pushed up the material, exposing her fully to his eyes and the morning air once more. She pulled her hand from his thigh to grasp the shirt from his hands and she pulled it up and off her head quickly. His hands slid down to cup her breasts as she did so, and the t-shirt removed, he leant down over her again, his mouth surrounding one nipple.

She sighed out in delight at the contact, closing her eyes for a moment. She turned her head towards his body beside hers and returned her hand to his thigh. Gliding up through soft hair and over thick muscles, she ran her hand up to his hip and slowly slid her hand down into the shadow of his groin.

Athosians may be less inclined to certain kissing, but touching was of the greatest importance. There was so much to touch, to prolong, and to explore with a lover, especially with a new lover, and so many ways to touch, to learn, and pleasure.

She ran her palm down the inside of his thigh, the warmth and strength there seducing her as much as his mouth on her. As he sucked on her nipple, massaging her hip with his hand, she turned her hand and cupped his sac resting between his legs. His entire body twitched with the new contact, but she understood it was with pleasure. She drew her hand slowly back towards her, sliding the length of her fingers around the weight of him, her fingertips lingering.

His mouth had lifted from her breast and she turned her head to look at him, to see his eyes were partly closed as he breathed out against her skin, before pressing his lips softly back down to the side of her straining erect nipple. She closed her eyes as he slid his warm lips over her skin, before opening her eyes again and looking back to where her hand disappeared into the darkness of his hips.

She turned her hand, sliding the side of her index finger between the two protected orbs of his manhood as she stroked to cup him again, then pulled back once more, massaging tiny circles against him with her fingertip. She repeated the motion, learning how he felt, what he liked, and to embrace the experience of touching him intimately.

His lips still hovered over her, breathing over her skin, but his focus on her touch between his legs. She smiled, pleased that she could bring him pleasure with her touch.

With her next stroke, she cupped him slowly and gently with her entire hand, feeling his weight in her palm, and squeezing ever so gently. He inhaled against her skin and she looked back to him, to see his eyes were closed. She reached a little further to the space behind that was the root of his arousal behind his sac. He drew in another loud breath as she slid her fingers over that area directly between his legs.

She watched his face as she touched him, and his eyes opened, meeting hers with a glazed pleasured expression. His eyes dropped to her mouth, so she licked her lips as she pressed and circled her fingers against his skin.

He groaned a deep rumble in his chest this time, the sensation vibrating against her chest as he did, making her smile. Her free hand was wrapped around his neck, and she squeezed the thick cords of his neck, now full of new growing tension under her touch. He turned his head back to her nipple, licking it into his mouth, to move away, kissing down to the lower fold of her breast, nuzzling in to press a kiss.

She sighed with the sensations, the pleasure, as his hand caressed up her side from her hip and back down, slipping under the waist band of her underwear to grasp her hip tightly in his hand.

Between his legs, she withdrew her touch slightly, drawing her fingers slowly and fully back around him again, holding his weight with more pressure, gently seeking out that line between what would give him pleasure but not discomfort. He only pressed closer to her body, pressing himself further into her hand in response.

He sat up after a moment, allowing her an improved view of his groin, of his straining erection above her hand. His attention though was directed down to his hand at her hip. He slid his hand under the upper edge of her underwear, his fingers sliding down under the cloth to where she eagerly wanted his touch. She ran her hand up from his groin, up his chest, sliding up the entire length of his upper body, as he cupped her with his hand, her underwear stretched over the back of his hand.

She closed her eyes as he softly pushed between her swollen folds with his caress. She gripped at his chest, her other hand around his forearm as he pleasured her.

His touch was exquisitely gentle, touching to explore as she had done. He whispered her name quietly as he circled his fingertip around her entrance. She lifted her hips off the bed, her body abruptly caught up in the rush again as she had last night, desperate for his deeper touch, and in her mind she was imagining him leaning down to press his mouth there. She opened her eyes to look up at him, wondering if he was imagining the same.

He looked down to her from his hand, his eyes wide and deep, and he leant down over her, his mouth touching down on her far side, sliding up to her breast. She gripped her hand into his hair, and with her other hand slid anxiously back down his stomach, seeking to pleasure him in return as he continued his soft caress.

This time she ran her fingers to the base of his arousal, standing out from his body. She slowly slid her fingers around him, feeling very minute bump and stretching of his skin as she did. She turned her hand, cupping under his girth with one finger and ran it up his shaft. He twitched again against her, his mouth lifting from her with a groan. She smiled as she looked to his face, seeing his sparkling eyes on her. She repeated the motion, using all her fingertips from base to the most sensitive underside of him again.

He pulled up from her, allowing a greater view of her hand wrapped around him now, stroking down. His touch had stilled against her core when she had first touched him, but now he began caressing again, teasing her to her own pleasure again. She sighed out long and loudly this time, parting her legs further.

The throb inside was growing once again, and she looked up at him to see him watching her, his fingers circling. She slid her fingers down his length again, delighting in the feel of him growing even more under her touch.

He leant back down over her, pressing a soft kiss to her middle, then another slightly lower, licking at her skin, the passion in him clearly rising. He shifted up from beside her, pulling himself carefully from her hand as he rose up on his knees and turned to face the same direction as her in the bed now, his hip bumping against her leg as he pressed another licking kiss to her stomach. He was heading down her body, and with nothing of him she could reach but his head and shoulders, she ran her hands over as much of his skin as she could.

He kissed lower, sliding his tongue into her bellybutton and down out of it. With his changed position, his hand had pulled away from between her legs, and he grasped her underwear, pulling them down her legs. He sat back to pull the material from her and she lifted her knees up to help him, and once they had been thrown aside, he moved around her higher held right leg, so that he now sat between her knees.

He looked up at her eyes as he leant down over her stomach again, her thighs parted around his middle and he pressed a kiss to her stomach. She ran her hands back into his hair, and as his fingers touched against her core again, she tightened her fingers.

He lifted his head, meeting her eyes through the valley of her cleavage, and he smiled at her softly before he leant down and touched his open mouth to her stomach. As he did so, between her legs, one of his fingers mimicked the same motion as his tongue against her stomach, showing her so clearly the fact that his mouth could touch her just as his fingers did.

She moaned at the action, running her fingers through his hair and down his neck, as she closed her legs around him a little, to feel the warmth of his body between them.

Against her belly, he now slid his tongue from side to side within his kiss, and between her folds, his finger caressed with the same pattern from one side of her to the other. This time she moaned loudly, her hips rising from the bed, bumping against his chest above her.

He repeated his seductive kiss, this time sliding down her skin, his eyes tightly closed, fingers copying all the motions between her legs. She arched her body further against him, his message well and truly received, and she was now desperately eager for his mouth to replace his fingers.

The passion from last night had returned in full force, her mind shutting down to anything but to watch him descending down her, his chin now brushing just above her triangle of hair as he licked down and out of her bellybutton again. She reached out and grasped tight handfuls of the mattress cover to her sides, and he finally lifted his mouth from her skin, sitting back.

She lay naked, her legs parted, as he ran one hand up and down her middle as he settled himself further back down the bed. He pressed his lips to the inside of her left knee beside him and looked up at her, his hand on her stomach.

"You ready?" He asked with a playful smile.

She nodded, unable to speak.

He dropped his gaze to his hand sliding slowly down her body, down over her mound, sliding his fingers where his gaze was directed. She felt a moment of trepidation, but she also wanted him to kiss her there with an instinct that made her shocked that she had not wanted this before now. She felt decadent again, lying back and awaiting his attention. She hoped he would truly enjoy giving as much as she found herself in anticipation.

"Be clear if you want me to stop," he told her with a smile as he lowered himself further towards her, pressing another kiss against her inner leg, lower down against her inner thigh. His eyes lifted to meet hers as he leant forward. She watched as he pressed his mouth down between her legs, his eyes with hers the entire way.

The touch was electric and she almost pulled from it for it was so intense, but instead she pushed herself against the touch. She clenched large handfuls of the mattress cover, twisting them tightly, as she held his eyes, the moment so erotic it felt almost unreal.

He repeated the actions he had used against her stomach, his eyes on her. She broke that eye contact as he pressed his tongue more fully to her. She released one handful of the covers and reached for his head, sliding her fingers into his hair as he altered his mouth and tongue against her, swirling and sucking.

All reservations from before were long forgotten as he pleasured her. She opened her eyes to look down herself again to the image of his head between her legs, his hands around her hips, holding her in place as he pressed his mouth closer and his tongue penetrated deeper. The sensation spilled out from her centre, teasing through her body, lifting her back from the bed and she heard her loud moaned gasps. He repeated the deep lick, sliding up and out of her to suck and lick again.

The sensations were absolutely beyond her ability to fully process now, too wild and lost in the need that had her shamelessly rubbing herself back against him, her grip tight in his hair. Then with one more sucking swirl it all broke.

She arched her back up sharply, her entirely body pulsing with the release. She clenched her eyes tightly shut, gasping loudly that became panting breaths that were his name and surprised calls to the Ancestors.

His hands were tight on her hips, holding her still to his mouth and she sighed out more with pleasure, her feet pressed to his back as she moved. His fingers joined his mouth on her, replacing his tongue as her body relaxed, her back finally resting down to the mattress again, her head back and her eyes closed to anything but the delight coursing through her. His fingers massaged, one penetrating deeper, to be joined by another and she rocked against the sensation, reaching down to his head again, which lifted as he sat up.

The bed shifted under her and she broke open her eyes enough to look down the bed, to where he was kneeling up over her between her raised knees, his wet hand sliding over his arousal before he leant over her, pressing the full head of his shaft to her opening.

She parted her legs more, lifting her knees as he pushed deeper, moving over her. She reached for him as he neared, sliding eager hands over his shoulders, pulling at him as he paused to press kisses to her stomach and breasts. As he moved up her body he pushed in deeper and she reached down to pull him tightly into her as she remembered from last night. With a mutual groaned gasp they joined completely and his mouth descended hungrily to hers. She returned his lustful kiss, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, feeling the vibrating tension to his body, vibrating with his fast breathing.

He settled himself down over her, his arms holding his weight on either side of her, and he pulled from her body to push fully back inside again. She broke her lips from his to let out a long pleasured moan of approval at the sensation. He smiled against her cheek, kissing her as he repeated his stroke, pulling completely from her and then smoothly sliding back into place. With the next stroke he did not leave her body completely, but he lifted his mouth from her cheek, his eyes with hers as he began stroking into her with that rhythm again, building up faster already. As their groins met with each stroke, he pushed further against her, rubbing them together and rocking them on the now creaking bed under them.

She felt gloriously satisfied already, but this new deep steady stroking was enticing it all up again, spreading the warmth out further and creating the tempting approach of another release. The sight of his body shifting with muscular driven movement as he filled her and retreated, all now in the bright sunlight, aroused her even higher. She ran her hands down over the vision of him, running her fingers along lines of muscle, the texture of hair and skin thrilling, the tightening of his nipples under her fingertips and his deeply moaning breaths as he moved. She slid her hands lower, her palms down over his stomach, catching between them bodies as they joined, down to his groin, back to that place between his legs where he had enjoyed her touch earlier.

His breathing broke with a gasping shudder at that caress and he began to thrust harder into her, his control slipping. She caressed him with more pressure, rubbing against him more and pulled her legs up higher around him. All of him was handsome, alluring, and she surrendered completely to her lustful desire for him now, and his complete seduction of her.

She gripped his hips, urging him on, expressing in moans and panted words how good he felt. She clenched her eyes shut, pressing her face into his shoulder, as they moved together, his mouth buried into the side of her neck.

He began talking to her, fast heady words of passion and sensations of how she felt, of his love and his desire. She could do nothing to reply now but tighten herself around him further, wishing that somehow she could draw them closer, merge them together. And the explosion repeated itself once more.

Her cries were mixed with his as he gripped one of her hips with one strong hand, pulling them together with more force and speed. She held onto him through her release, helping him reach his and he tensed completely against her, reaching his own breaking height of passion.

She wrapped her legs tightly around him, rubbing them closer, tighter, as she enfolded her arms around his back, digging her nails tightly into his shoulders to hold them as close as possible.

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Onto part 5


	5. Chapter 5

**Part**: 5/5

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With gasping, panting broken breaths they lay together in the aftermath, her body heavy and his warm over her. She felt wonderful, sighing out loudly as she rested fully into the mattress, and he murmured against her neck as he shifted against her. The warmth filled her body, the air warmer around them, and she relaxed one arm over her head, keeping the other around John's shoulders as he lay partially off her, his cheek against her chest and one leg between hers.

He was still breathing fast, as she was, his breath moving over her breast, the comfort of his head above the other. She ran her hand up his neck to his hair, massaging his scalp as she closed her eyes, waiting for her breathing and heart rate to slow.

Against her, he slid his hand over her stomach, idle wide circles down to her hip and then slipped his hand between her legs, covering her intimately as he sighed against her again.

She opened her eyes with pleasant surprise at his gentle caress at her sensitised flesh, gentle and comforting. His hand stilled, covering her, his body a lovely welcoming weight against her and she lingered her hands over his shoulders, enjoying the moment and delight that the passion from last night had not been a one time event.

She smoothed her hand over his skin, down his back, smiling at the gift of him, a dream fulfilled after so many years. A gift, which had surprised her, but was now fulfilling in a way she had not experienced before with a lover. Lying with him felt very right, and despite the fact that she was aware that this would change much of their lives back in the city, she held no regrets. And she felt a flushing extra warmth at the intimacy they had shared, feeling contented and happy.

Bubbling with affection, she simply ran her hands over him slowly, listening to his slower breaths against her.

She perhaps dozed herself, for she opened her eyes a short time later, aware that she had been dreaming of sitting with him on the edge of one of an Atlantis pier. She looked around the room, the air comfortable and the light bright. She felt rested, warmed deeply and very satisfied. She stretched slightly against the bed and John, and he lifted his head from her shoulder where he had been tucked up against her. He rolled away onto his back with a deeply resonant sleepy groan. She turned onto her side keeping with him and tucked up against his side, his arm sliding around her shoulders.

She took a deep breath of his natural scent, watching her hand slide over his broad strong chest. She felt deeply content and the sleepiness completed receded as she lay against him, watching the sunlight on the opposite wall, past John's steady breathing, his chest rising and lowering. He was warm and comfortable and she felt excessively happy.

His breathing softened with sleep, or very near to it for his fingers caressed her shoulder very slightly still. Yet, she was feeling wide-awake, her body feeling alert and ready to climb from the bed to see the day. However, her position was so comfortable, that she remained, settling her head further over his chest, listening to the soothing thumping of his heart.

At which point she realised that time had been passing without her being aware of the time. She lifted up from John, turning to look back at the bedside clock.

"It is past eleven," she exclaimed, surprised at how much time had passed. "Jennifer will be growing very concerned for me," she realised sitting up beside John.

John's hand slid down her back as she sat up, his fingers sliding over her skin sleepily.

"She probably guessed you hooked up last night," he told her clearly amused.

She looked down at his face to see a sleepy and rather smug expression. She opened her mouth to protest at the amusing comment, only to admit the truth that she had in fact 'hooked up', though the term seemed far too superficial in meaning to apply to what she and John had shared.

She swatted her hand against his leg instead, turning to swing her legs over the side of the bed.

"I need to get back to my room to change before I join her," she glanced back at him, sliding her hand up his arm that still circled around her hip despite her changing position next to him. "Do you still wish to join us by the pool?" She asked, taking in the beautiful sight of naked John in the bed beside her, pleased to see his relaxed expression.

"Sure, sounds good," he replied, but made no motion to sit up himself, and she thought he looked a little too relaxed, wondering if he would be inclined to fall back to sleep when she left. The temptation to settle back against him was strong, but she also wished to head outside, to sit by the pool and enjoy the changes to her life. Besides, she would the anticipation of sharing more passion with him later.

She ran her hand back down his arm to rest her hand over his, which he caught in his. "Since you have managed to remove me from my clothes, there is nothing stopping you from spending the rest of the day on the golf course, if that is what you wish to do," she told him. She did not wish him to alter his plans to please her, for she did not need that from him.

"Tired of me already?" He asked his eyes brighter now.

She smiled down at him. "Far from it, but since we are returning to Atlantis tomorrow, this may be your last chance to play golf for a while."

He shrugged against the mattress under him. "I could do with a day by a pool. Swimming, lounging, you in a bikini."

She smiled at his comment and nodded with pleasure at his choice.

"Then I will go change, into my bikini, and meet you out by the pool?" She asked as she rose from the bed, moving around it to where their clothes lay over the chair.

All of the bedclothes, including the last sheet, had all been dislodged from the bed, forming a sea of material around it. She lifted it all back onto the foot of the bed idly as she sought out where her underwear had ended up when he had removed it from her.

"I'll meet you in your room, or it'll take ages to find you around the pools," he replied.

She found her underwear under one fallen sheet and as she placed the sheet back on the side of the bed, she saw that he had tucked a pillow under his head, enabling him to watch her from where he lay. She realised that she was walking around his room entirely naked without having noted her nudity. She turned from him, giving him a full view of her back, as she moved back to the chair and began pulling on her clothes from last night, which held the telltale grainy feel of sand caught amongst them.

"Do you know my room number?" She asked as she pulled her top on last and slid her feet into her sandals.

"304," he replied immediately and impressed she glanced at him. She wondered if he had simply recalled it from their group check-in, or if he had purposefully noted her room number, the way she knew that his was 116.

"I shall see you in ten minutes then?" She asked as she moved away towards the door, wondering anew if he was going to fall asleep after she left.

"Ten minutes," he repeated as he adjusted himself against his pillow again.

She reached his door and smiled over her shoulder at him again, and before she could be tempted to remain here with him, she pulled open the door. She stepped out with one more exchanged smile with him and shut the door.

She headed down the corridor towards the closest stairwell, feeling slightly conscious that it was clear that her clothes were worn and crumpled from the night before. She glanced back down the corridor to see if anyone had seen her leaving John's room, but there was only one woman present and she was pushing a cleaning cart, intent on her duties.

Teyla made her way up the stairs quickly, running through in her mind the best excuse to give to Jennifer, and then wondered what she could say to any direct questioning. She was still considering that matter as she reached her door, slid the key card into the lock and entered her room.

She stripped out of last night's clothes and underwear, heading into the bathroom to freshen up. There was no need for a full shower, for a dip in the pool would take care of that for her. She brushed out her hair, pulling and tying it up and back, then pulled on her bikini, and a light airy open shirt over it. She collected up her book, a wide-brimmed hat she had been wearing by the pool, and her key card, adding them to the small string bag already containing her beach towel and a bottle of sun lotion. Happy she had everything she moved across the room to open the glass door to the small balcony outside her room. The fresh air rushed into the room, which had been closed up all of last night. She inhaled the faint touch of saltwater to the air and closed her eyes against the lovely strong sunlight as she stepped out into the light to wait for John to arrive, wondering with a smile if he had fallen back to sleep.

The balcony was enclosed on its sides by dividing walls that separated her balcony space from her neighbours on both sides, and through the air, she could hear gentle ill-defined conversations from the other balconies. From below, she could hear the usual sounds of the complex – people talking, laughing, and splashing water from the closest pool below her balcony. Just beyond the pool there was a wide set of tennis courts, across which several games were being played, with the distinctive sounds of the bright yellow tennis balls hitting the rackets.

There was a knock against her door inside. Smiling she turned inside, leaving the glass door open to air her room and hopefully cool it for later. She headed across the room and pulled open the door to find John waiting outside, on time and looking wide-awake.

"I just need to collect my bag," she told him with a smile as she moved away towards the bed.

He was dressed in long dark shorts, the type designed to be worn for swimming that she had seen many men wearing around the pools, an open short-sleeved white shirt, with a repeated pattern design over it, and sunglasses, which he removed. In his hand, he held a book and a beach towel.

"Actually," he replied moving into the room with her, pushing the door closed behind him. "There was something we didn't touch on before."

She picked up her bag, looping the strap around her, wondering at the slightly cautious look he wore, hoping that he had not changed his mind about them in the last ten minutes.

"There is something we did not touch?" She asked with a smile, hoping to make it clear that she was relaxed about things, for she would enjoy whatever she could about this turn of events between them.

He let out a laughing breath at her comment that seemed to flush his cheeks slightly. He moved across the small space between them and leant down to press his lips to hers. She felt relieved at the kiss, touching her hand against his chest through his open shirt. As he pulled back from the quick, yet nicely affectionate kiss, she lightly caught the edge of his shirt, looking down to see that the pattern over it was of small bright coloured pineapples.

"I couldn't find one with lemons on it," he told her.

She chuckled at his joke and released the shirt. She looked up at his face, enjoying that she could stand so much closer to him now, catch the scent of him and the way his eyes were warm and held a nice sparkle of knowing in their depths. He blinked from their smiling gazing at one another and his former caution reappeared.

"Um, I just thought we should maybe talk about a few things," he said.

She was a little surprised that he wished to have this conversation now. She wished to get to the poolside to Jennifer who would be worrying by now, but at the same time she was happy to talk about anything with John. She nodded, keeping her expression open and patient.

"You know we're not going to be able to work together anymore," he told her, his expression somewhere between the sparkling smile still and concern. "On the same team."

She nodded. "I know," she told him simply. Leaving the team was something she had faced before following Torren's birth, and she would miss her place in the team. However, that it would be due to this new change between her and John seemed a very worthwhile reason to leave the team, and besides she would see Rodney and Ronon in the city as much as she could still.

"And you're okay with that," he asked for clarification.

She nodded. "Are you?" She asked, wondering if this would be a problem for him.

He gave a half shrug as he smiled. "Just don't be surprised if Ronon and I kill Rodney without you being around."

She smiled, catching hold of the edge of his shirt again, the softness between her fingers enjoyable. "You will be fine, and besides you will have my replacement to help."

"Don't think there's ever a replacement for you," he uttered, his hand warm at her waist, having slipped inside her shirt to touch against her skin.

She smiled at his meaning and rose up on her toes to press another light kiss against his lips.

He pressed the kiss deeper this time, his hand sneaking further around her back under her shirt.

She pulled back, her hand against his chest. "We need to get down to the pool," she reminded him with a lifted eyebrow.

"Fine," he muttered, but good-naturedly with a smile.

They moved to the door and as they stepped outside his hand fell from her back to click her door shut properly for her. Together they headed down the hallway, their open toed shoes tapping on the hard smooth floor.

They discussed plans for lunch at the small café they had passed through late last night. They reached the ground floor and headed towards the exit closest to the pool beside which Jennifer hopefully still waited. It was hot outside as they left the shade of the hotel, heading around seating areas and a courtyard to reach the correct pool.

The pool before them was not as busy as the one that she had seen from her balcony, but it was still surrounded by people. Some sunbathed, some moving around with drinks and food, some swimming and others diving in or climbing out of the water. The area was full of activity, into which they walked, heading towards the single empty lounge chair beside which Jennifer lay in the sun. Everyone Teyla passed she recognised from the city or from the mingle evening, and everyone it seemed were smiling and happy. She pulled on her hat, sheltering her face from the direct sun a little, as behind her John paused by the poolside to talk with someone who called out to him.

"There you are," Jennifer said as Teyla reached the lounger her friend had reserved for her.

"I apologise, I overslept," Teyla replied, having decided it would be the best explanation.

Jennifer frowned a little, tilting her head, perhaps attempting to see Teyla's expression more clearly under her wide-brimmed hat. "I called your room," she added.

"I am sorry," Teyla replied evasively.

"Colonel Sheppard," Jennifer added as John arrived at the lounger.

"I thought I'd join you guys for a day by the pool," John said casually.

Teyla spread her beach towel over her lounger, and as she did, she was almost certain she could sense Jennifer's attention.

The towel spread out ready, she realised John would have nowhere to sit since all the other loungers were occupied. She turned to him, her first thought that they could share the lounger, but she dismissed it considering where they were.

"There may be some spare chairs," she suggested looking to where some of the smaller white plastic chairs were arranged near the food areas.

"I'm okay," he replied as he set his things down in the shade of her lounger, pulled off his sunglasses and then his shirt.

Trying desperately not to stare, Teyla settled down on her lounger.

"Would you like a drink, Colonel?" Jennifer asked as she indicated the half-full jug of fruit juice beside her. There were two glasses beside it, one half full and the other empty waiting for Teyla.

"I'm okay, thanks. Think I'll enjoy the water for a bit," he replied, his eyes dropping to meet Teyla's for a second with a smile before he turned and headed off around the pool.

"Which dining room did you end up in then last night?" Jennifer asked, but Teyla's attention was on John as he moved away, heading towards the deeper end of the pool.

"Dining room A," Teyla replied simply, without any further information, dipping her head so that the full shade of her hat covered her face as she watched John perform a perfect dive into the water.

"I was in B, they put all us doctors together, guess they wanted us to all brainstorm as we ate," Jennifer muttered.

Teyla pulled her eyes from the pool, where John had surfaced near several people they knew from the city. She reached for the jug of fruit juice and focused on her friend.

"And was there any brainstorming?" She asked as she poured some drink. Jennifer was stretched out in the sun, her arms and face already darker than yesterday.

"Some," Jennifer replied. "I got stuck with Dr Howell again."

Teyla listened to her friend, asking questions as she sipped her refreshing drink. She set it aside and pulled off her hat and shirt. She pulled out her sun lotion and applied it to the exposed areas of her body, glancing to the pool every now and then, trying not to look at John too much where he had been pulled into a water volleyball game.

Protected from the sun and with another sip of her drink, she relaxed back comfortably into her lounger. Jennifer was silent now, her book in her hand and Teyla pulled out her own. She read and watched the volleyball game over the top of it from time to time, the sight of John's wet shoulders and chest rather distracting.

It grew warmer over the next half an hour, though a light breeze picked up across the pool making it more comfortable. The volleyball game over, Teyla focused on her book with more attention, caught up in the story once more. Beside her, Jennifer turned over, browning her back and they started up a conversation again on ideas for more recreation in Atlantis. As they talked, Teyla noticed that John was sat on the opposite edge of the pool talking with General O'Neill, their lower legs in the water.

Her eyes met John's and he gave her a nice little smile that warmed her across the pool. As he glanced away to continue his conversation with the General, she kept her eyes on him, allowing herself to enjoy the view. She decided that she had had enough reading. She set down her book and with a comment to Jennifer, she moved to the pool's edge. She sat down on the edge, retying her hair to hold it further out of the water, feeling John's eyes on her as she did so. Then, she slipped down into the water, the refreshing feel of it far more enjoyable than she had expected.

She turned in the water, making ripples with her arms and kicking contentedly with her legs. She dipped lower in the water, washing it over her head and soaking her hair, cooling the sun's heat further. She kicked back to the side near her seat and wiped a hand over her hair, and somehow felt him nearing her through the water. She glanced round as he arrived, sliding up beside her, and just before he set his arms on the side alongside hers, his hand brushed up over her backside and over her hip.

"Murphy's here," he told her with a conspiratorial smile as he settled his forearms on the side.

Teyla glanced around subtly. "Did she speak to you?"

"No, but I got a _look_," he replied with a smile.

Teyla turned against the side, looking around the pool and brushing ever so slightly against John as she turned. She finally spotted Dr Murphy dressed in a bright red bathing costume, talking with her colleague from the SGC. Teyla continued her full turn studying all of the poolside as if she had not been looking for the doctor, finally returning to lean back against the side with John.

"I doubt that she will say anything," she considered, glancing over to Jennifer so close, who now lay on her back again. The good doctor was wearing dark sunglasses and Teyla found herself wondering if she was watching her and John. "I do not think Jennifer believed my story," she said quietly to John.

They were far from a compromising position, simply beside each other in the pool, like so many others around them, yet she felt like they were on show. She felt conscious of the way she was looking at him, how close they may seem to each other, and the fact that she really wanted to touch him. The look in his eyes made her think he was thinking the same.

"That you overslept?" John repeated doubtfully.

"Technically it was true," Teyla pointed out.

He grinned at her as he turned, setting the back of his shoulders against the side of the pool. Close by someone jumped into the water, their arms wrapped around their bent legs, creating a massive splash that made everyone laugh. Teyla smiled at the laughter and the relaxed happiness so many were sharing, for they all deserved such relaxation.

"You know," John began, drawing her attention back to him. "There is a way to make sure Murphy doesn't say anything…" She smiled at his comment, which had been with the exact same tone he had used last night whilst they had been hiding outside the dining room. "Since you're gonna to be leaving the team, and we're technically on vacation, there isn't really any reason to hide anything," he had dipped lower in the water and turned towards her a little more. His eyes held that flirtatious sparkle to them again, and she suspected she would be seeing that look quite frequently in the future.

The delight that he apparently had no wish to hide their relationship pleased her greatly.

"There are a lot of people here who you are technically superior to," she pointed out quietly though, wanting to be sure of this decision.

"We're all off duty," he replied. "Besides, General O'Neill and Carter are sharing the same lounger," he pointed out looking off to the other side of the pool where the two military leaders were settled together, smiling and sharing a bowl of fries.

Teyla smiled at the sight and then back to John. "That is true," she replied and glanced off to where Jennifer looked like she was sleeping.

She considered the issue and then set her hands on the poolside and pushed up, sitting herself up on the edge of the pool and looked down at John in the water.

"Would you like to share my lounger?" She asked with a smile, and no small amount of innuendo.

John grinned, his eyes sliding down her bare legs as she got up from the side. She turned and walked to the lounger, sitting down on it to look back to watch the sight of John climbing out of the water.

As he reached the lounger, she sat forward and he simply sat down beside her, one arm sliding around her as she sat back partially within his embrace. They had shared far more dramatic embraces, but this felt momentous since they were sharing it in front of so many public eyes. With this simple act, he showed her that this was far from a simple holiday romance and far from just passionate nights and distant days. A sentiment she shared.

She settled more comfortably against him and as she did, he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Rodney's going to be so annoyed he missed this," Jennifer muttered from their left.

Teyla glanced at her friend, who was smiling, though she remained reclined. Beyond Jennifer Teyla noticed Major Lorne sat under an umbrella eating a sandwich, and he gave her a soft friendly smile before returning his attention to his food. Just beyond his table, a red swimming costume paused, and she saw Doctor Murphy's surprised smile, before she turned away.

Around them people continued about their play, their lives unchanged, yet for Teyla everything had altered over the past day.

She dropped her attention to John's arm around her, his hand lying near elbow, and she reached for it. His fingers intertwined with hers, warm and secure, and she smiled.

Yes, this had been a most perfect vacation, and tomorrow they would return to Atlantis and her life would alter further. She would join another team, yet spend more time than ever with John, and so would Torren. She looked forward to watching Torren and John spend more time together, and in her mind she began to formulate how she would broach the subject of John with Kanaan.

Changes would be made outside in the physical world, perhaps complicating things at times, yet inside, her heart was happy, contented, and she hoped it would last for as long as possible.

She tightened her hand with John's and rested back against him comfortably, closing her eyes and absorbing the sounds of play, the sun's warmth, and John against her.

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THE END


End file.
